The Kwakwani Neighbour-hood Development Commit-tee (KNDC), the group recently elected by residents to run the affairs of the community, will ensure that the people are involved in its decision-making.
This pledge was made by KNDC member Kelvin Daly on Friday night at a thanksgiving ceremony, where the group was formally introduced to the community.
Daly told residents to get accustomed to being called upon to attend regular meetings, since the development process would be one where all will be involved in the decision-making.
The ceremony was held to herald what one resident described as “a new dispensation” in the management of the community, following the election of the 15-member committee. The central government, which had installed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to manage the community, has, however, refused to recognise the KNDC, in the absence of any legal authority for its election.
Nonetheless, songs of worship echoed through the streets of Kwakwani on Friday night as residents surrounded the basketball court at the centre of the community, where the ceremony was held.The activity took place a day after residents walked out of a community meeting hosted by Minister within the Ministry of Local Government Norman Whittaker, over a comment he made. KNDC member Neil Patterson had also called on Whittaker to apologise to residents for not ensuring a democratic process that would see residents involved in the selection of members to sit on IMC, which has since been rejected by the majority of the community.
“We still have a KNDC… Kwakwani Neighbourhood Development Committee,” the group’s Secretary Jocelyn Morian said in a brief address to residents at the ceremony. “The road we have decided to walk is a democratic [one] and that was demonstrated one month before the month of the rebirth of democracy in Guyana, Morian added.
He also told residents that the road that they have decided to walk would be very rocky and made reference to the meeting with Whittaker.
Residents were also apprised of a donation of a large quantity of footwear, which will be distributed first among school children, before the remainder is made available to others. The distribution exercise will commence on Monday.
A pledge of two grass cutters was also made made a member has committed to have five gallons of mixed gas ready for the cutters as well as for those residents who have their own machines to start a clean-up exercise in the area, which is a priority for the KNDC.
Members of the committee also pledged their support to the Kwakwani Secondary School’s 40th anniversary celebrations. “Forty years ago, we had recognised the need for a secondary school and we did it through self-help. We need to rekindle the spirit of self-help,” Morian said, while noting that most of the prized assets in the community were achieved through self-help.
Meanwhile, a family fun day is to be held at the Community Centre Ground. It is to be used as an activity to rebuild broken relationships among community members and strengthen existing ones.
In addition to Daly, Patterson and Morian, the KNDC comprises Angela Schultz, Ann Gordon, Carl Liverpool, Cort Simeon, Charles Thom, Danetta Jeffrey, Irel Roberts, Judith Welcome, Karen Julien, Rosamond Samuels, Shackelia Sampson and Rayon Jackson.
