The 15-member committee recently elected by Kwakwani residents to run the community is prepared to work as a parallel body to the Interim Management Committee (IMC) installed by the Local Government Ministry, if the central government continues to refuse to recognise its legitimacy.
Angela Schultz, Ann Gordon, Carl Liverpool, Cort Simeon, Charles Thom, Danetta Jeffrey, Irel Roberts, Judith Welcome, Jocelyn Morian, Kelvin Daly, Karen Julien, Neil Patterson, Rosamond Samuels, Shackelia Sampson and Rayon Jackson were elected at a “people’s elections” held by residents a week ago and which the government deemed illegal.
The ministry had earlier this year dissolved the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and installed the IMC, which was strongly rejected by a number of residents through a series of protests. In addition, some IMC members said they were unaware of their appointment to the body until they saw it in the newspapers.
At their first sitting on Monday evening, Liverpool was elected to serve as the chairman of the committee, since he received the highest number of votes in the election. Schultz is vice-chairperson, Morian is secretary, Gordon is treasurer and Welcome is assistant secretary.
Morian told Stabroek News that the community will be the first in the country to see two IMCs in operation should the government continue to refuse to recognise the recently-elected body. He said that nationwide and further afield, persons have commended their stand of demanding that democracy prevails, where the people in the community decide who should be their leaders.
He said that over the years in Kwakwani it has been evident that a number of things had occurred, most of which did not satisfy the direct needs and benefits of the community. “So, we said that we have had enough and it’s time that we take back our community,” he stressed, adding that Kwakwani is known to be a tightly-knitted community that worked in the past to address its direct needs and the new committee would be working to rebuild that ethos. “Anyone who knows Kwakwani would tell you that as a people we come together to do things for this community,” said Morian. “We’ll be going back to where we were in the initial stages of Kwakwani of doing things for ourselves and we are very sure that we will get the kind of help that is required.”
Cleaning up the community will be the initial focus of the committee along with celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Kwakwani Secondary School, which was built by the community. “…That was done through a democratic process. We had a PTA, which was elected by a voting process, casting ballots and so-forth, which resulted in that school being built. And so, we want to continue with that process, don’t come and impose anything on us,” Morian said.
The committee will be introduce to the community on Friday at a planned prayer and thanksgiving ceremony, which will be followed by the distribution of a quantity of shoes to children. The footwear was sourced from a friendly organization—one of several organisations that have committed to working with the new committee to aid the community’s development.
“If the government wants to, is comfortable working with the IMC and give them the kind of support the community hasn’t been getting over the years, fine. Then, they’ll have two organisations working in unison to get things done in the community and that would be a good sign for the community,” Morian added.
Meanwhile, Liverpool said he was pleasantly surprised at coming out with the most votes from residents. “They [residents] keep telling me all along, ‘we want you fuh dis position’. And if I didn’t take it, I would have lost everything in this community,” he said jokingly.
“I know to my heart, what we did was the best thing for this community. We can set a better standard and that’s the main reason why I accepted the position,” said Liverpool, a popular businessman who has been living in Kwakwani since 1968. “We have a lot of work to do and I am so confident that we have an excellent team,” he added, while noting the near gender balance with eight females and seven males composing the committee.
