Dear Editor,
Quick intervention by the coalition government has restored power to the entire Essequibo Coast. Two brand new transformers were brought in from Georgetown and added to the system’s grid. The ones damaged during the period of the previous administration were replaced after being neglected for 23 years, causing the entire populace to suffer endless blackouts. During the election campaign month of April and May 2015, the blackouts became more rampant here on the Essequibo Coast. At every political meeting and rally, standby generators had to be used by both the PPP and APNU+AFC until their meetings were finished. The PPP paid no heed to the blackouts, and these went on from day to night for years, affecting every household and business in this Cinderella county. The citizens and businessmen gave up all hope of waiting for a new day to dawn.
The newly elected APNU+AFC coalition government got caught up with the spill-over of blackouts from the previous administration, and it went on for four months non-stop. The coalition quickly went into action and high gear; the technicians worked out a 6-hour plan to rotate electricity to different parts of the coast, trying to satisfy each consumer for the time being, and at the same time they worked night and day to do maintenance on the other Wartsila engine to get it up and running. The people and businessmen of this region started to become frustrated and fed up with the 6-hour rotation, although it was better than having no electricity at all; likewise from the previous administration.
As I travel across the coast meeting with supporters and citizens, they continued to lambaste me about the long period of constant blackouts and power outages. I assured them that things will get better under this new coalition government, but it will take some time to correct the 23 years of PPP mismanagement and the clean-up of corruption within each ministry. The blackout situation I told them was more severe from Supenaam to Suddie for decades, and before the elections the PPP brought two old Caterpillar engines on wheels and placed them at Fairfield to power that section of the coast. It was a ploy to buy votes; then they continued to neglect the area from Suddie to Charity and everything came crashing down.
Two new transformers were brought in 3 days ago by the coalition government which have been installed, and power has been fully restored to the entire Essequibo Coast with the assurance from the engineers that there would be no more blackouts
APNU+AFC saw that there were endless blackouts and the party used that on their campaign trail to convince voters to vote against the PPP, which they did, and captured most of the votes from Suddie to Charity denying the PPP the victory it needed for another term in office. Essequibians are very thankful to the coalition for buying two new transformers which have restored regular and stable power at the moment.
Today, the vulnerable Wartsila power plants, which contribute 90 per cent of the region’s energy production continue to function once more; government recognizes that the Essequibo coast is vitally important to the people’s well-being and quality of life.
The administration has a moral obligation to take action now regarding climate change. If not, future generations will face the consequences of our apathy towards the environment.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
