New Chairman of Region Four Genevieve Allen, the only woman head of the 10 recently constituted Regional Democratic Councils, intends to make her region the “frontline” region.
According to Allen, under her tenure she hopes to see a region where “constituents are satisfied with their lives.”
In order to provide this satisfaction Allen is looking to improve the services offered to the people of Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) in the five areas of Administration and Finance, Education, Public Infrastructure, Agriculture and Public Health.
Even as Allen jokes that if someone were to give her a few billion dollars, she could ensure the needs of the region are met, she acknowledges that the amount provided through the ministries of Finance and Communities is likely to fall far short of billions.
“We have to work with what is given to us,” she explains and with what is likely to be given the best way to achieve the region’s goals, according to Allen, is through collaboration, a high level of communication and team work to avoid duplication of effort at the level of the RDC and its subsidiaries the Neighbourhood Democra-tic Councils (NDC). Along with the help of non-governmental organizations these efforts will help fulfil needs.
“Where the region cannot undertake a project we welcome the support of other organisations,” Allen said.
In the previous dispensation, she said, the RDC which should provide supervision to the NDCs was not being made aware of the activities of these bodies.
“If the NDCs give reports on activities within their communities we can give them guidance, but over the last three years NDC representatives were not coming to report to the RDC except for perhaps two or 3 NDCs” Allen explained
This appears to have changed as the council recorded full representation at its last statutory meeting for its Accountability Committee on July 14.
At this meeting the RDC and NDCs “pledged to work together for the development of people of Region Four,” Allen said, adding, “We appear to have established a cordial relationship.”
Allen is full of praise for the Plaisance/Industry and Golden Grove/Diamond Place NDCs since, according to the reports she has received, “They have been providing services to their communities. They have been engaging in remedial works to bring relief to persons within their communities in the area of garbage disposal services, repairs to roads and bridges and clearing the Drainage and Irrigation Canals. The reports received from the community indicate that they have been carrying out their mandate.”
She is however concerned about the number of NDCs being managed by Interim Management Committees.
“What I observed is we have a lot of NDCs managed by IMCs. Those individuals were not given the necessary training of how to manage at the level of the NDC. Without the prerequisite training there will be flaws in how they operate,” Allen explained.
In an attempt to address this issue, the new chair has begun discussions with the Region Four local government department and has asked them to plan a programme so that there can be training sessions for chairpersons and overseers. It is expected that this training will help these individuals better carry out their mandate.
The planned local government elections will, Allen hopes, bring to the NDCs “persons who are dedicated to working for the upliftment of their communities. Persons who will not put their self-interests first but they will put the needs and interests of their communities first. Persons who are humble enough so that members of the community can approach them to solicit advice and information as well as to seek representation.”
When voters go to the polls for the long awaited local government election they will find a new system. Half of the seats for each NDC will be contested by representatives of various constituents in a form of proportional representation.
This will see particular individuals representing their communities on a voluntary basis at the level of the council. For Allen, this is offers a level of accountability not seen before.
“With this new system you will have somebody who residents can go to and say this is my representative and this person is expected to represent my issues. If they don’t perform, I have the right to remove them,” she added.
To the potential representatives she offers this advice: “When we accept our names being put on any list to represent people we have to first of all say to ourselves that we have to put the people’s interests first so that wherever we are elected to represent we can make a difference and at the end of the tenure of our office our constituents will be satisfied and they will want to re-elect us before our tenure is over because we have impacted on their lives.”
