The Alliance For Change (AFC) says it is concerned about the plight of citizens along the Essequibo Coast, particularly vendors who ply their trade in a filthy “bazaar” that passes for a market at Suddie, and the lack of development in the sprawling ‘Red Village’ community.
In a press release the group said a delegation led by Vice Chairman Moses Nagamootoo and NEC member Trevor Williams, both MPs, made these discoveries at several community meetings held in the Region Two area late last month.
The delegation, with support from Regional Manage-ment Committee Chairman Archie Cordis and Region Two Councillor Nateram and activist Hardat “Sham” Narine, participated in a live TV call-in programme on Channel Eight and met with rice farmers, fishermen, market vendors, stallholders and ‘Red Village’ residents, during the tour.
At Bush Lot, rice farmers said they are still owed huge sums for their paddy from millers and are seeking a class action lawsuit against Mahaicony Rice Mills. Some farmers showed the AFC leaders invoices that have been unpaid for two years. The farmers are calling on government to demand that the millers pay all outstanding sums within 42 days or face suspension of their licences. “Essequibo coast is rice; and rice is Essequibo coast. If we can’t get paid for our crops, is better we dead,” an emotional rice farmer said.
Fishermen also lamented the loss of their engines, seines and catch by pirates. Some have traced their engines to the Essequibo River island of Leguan but police have failed to retrieve and return the item, the release said. They also told the AFC that government has not activated the “floating coast guard” and enough patrols are not being done along the Essequibo fishing zone.
The Anna Regina market stallholders are also locked in a legal battle with the government and have refused to relocate. The matter is currently engaging the attention of the Court of Appeal but stallholders said they were led to believe that the Anna Regina Town Council and the Ministry of Local Government are no longer interested in relocating them as the new market at Bush Lot is fast becoming a white elephant. The market is reportedly under-utilised and opens only one day per week, the release said.
Vendors said they understand that the market venue was promised to a businessman to build a hospital, which they claim makes no sense. Instead, they suggested that government make the Suddie hospital fully functional and address the problems currently being experienced with the operating theatre, provide equipment to conduct cholesterol tests and drugs for diabetic patients.
In addition, vendors at the makeshift Suddie market continue to ply their trade in a dusty, waste strewn area that is a public health hazard. One stallholder posited that government should build a new market in the area instead of “throwing money away on a Marriott hotel/casino.”
After driving for about 30-minutes from the public road on a dusty dam of loam and sand, party members reached the sprawling ‘Red Village’ community. Built on state own-land, the large expanse of white sand is dotted with about 100 wooden houses built on stilts. The houses were said to be donated by “House for the Poor” which required a $100,000 payment from each homeowner.
The community boasts no potable water, electricity, telephones, roads or schools. Residents source drinking water from the creek which is sold by “entrepreneurs” at $1,500 per 500-gallon barrel. Children are then forced to trek along the loam road to attend school. By the time they reach they are often covered in red loam stirred up by heavy-duty trucks which often traverse the area, the AFC lamented.
