The PPP is working to recapture the votes it lost in the 2011 elections and bottom-house meetings, a dinner for professionals, and lunch for party stalwarts were among its planned activities on the Essequibo Coast this week.
PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee and a team from Freedom House are currently traversing the Essequibo Coast and the Pomeroon River in an outreach, which is a spin-off of the government’s $10,000 grant award to public school students.
Rohee, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, said the visits were long overdue. “We have conducted similar visits in Berbice… and other parts of the country,” Rohee said. “These outreaches are efforts by the party to boost relationships and maintain a connection with the people.
The sixth cycle of continuous registration is ongoing and we are making sure that each person has all the necessary documents. There is a need for the party to always be connected with people and we are trying to preserve that connection.”
The minister said it is useful and enlightening to hear the views of people in the various communities. “Parents who received $10,000 grant are highly appreciative…. So far, I got the general impression that people on the coast are satisfied. Yes there are problems which are not uncommon but I hope that as we move along to the other villages we will hear more of the concerns,” Rohee said. “We have seen an amount of loss in the percentage of votes and now as we are once again moving into election we have been dealing with those things that caused the votes to be lowered.
We will step up efforts and will make sure that errors are not repeated. We have to make sure we are on top of the situation.”
At the 2011 general elections, the PPP/C secured 12,555 of the 17.979 valid votes counted for District Two (Pomeroon/ Supenaam). It also swept the district in the previous general elections.
Rohee added that the first community meeting held at Red Village was successful and areas of improvement were noted.
“The people were warm and welcoming and readily spoke about the issues affecting them. I took note of the issues and one of the main points was the increase in the police patrol. We will deal with all of the issues and will continue doing more work in the community. I heard about the need for a police outpost in Red village and come 2015, that will be included in the budget,” he said.
Rohee said that a visit was paid to the Suddie Police Station and meetings were held with various Community Policing Groups. “Yesterday [Wednes-day] I visited the NOC [New Opportunity Corps] which was a great experience. I also held a meeting at the community level at the Red Village. We will be here until Sunday and we will continue to hold bottom house meetings. There is also a plan to have a dinner with young professionals in various fields and young entrepreneurs. We will have a lunch with some of our veteran party activists to express our gratitude and appreciation to them. Our aim is to reassure them that they are not forgotten,” Rohee said.
One resident of Red Village said he is pleased that meetings are being held. “I am happy that the minister come here because there is a lot of things we would like see improved. For instance we need a police outpost in this area and the minister promised to address this issue soon,” he said.
The team included the ruling party executive secretary Zulfikar Mustapha, three staff members from Freedom House and a Member of Parliament from East Berbice.
“I’m not only doing political work but I’m also doing Home Affairs work,” Rohee said. “We are doing what we have to do. Connecting where we lost connection and we are going to correct deficiencies at each level.”
This includes rehabilitating major projects in infrastructure and social facilities, which, according to Rohee, will not only benefit communities but will bring political gains.
Regional Vice Chairman of Region Two Vishnu Samaroo noted that rehabilitation works are in progress on the Suddie Public Hospital and several health centres on the coast and in the Pomeroon. “We are also focused on the maintenance of roads, drainage and irrigation projects and some bridges along the coast are also being upgraded,” Samaroo said.
The minister and his delegation were due to also visit Aurora, Golden Fleece, Charity and Suddie.
