Dear Editor,
Minister of Social Cohesion Amna Ally and the First Lady recently met the residents of Mabaruma and outlying areas in Region One. They visited schools and delivered bicycles, footwear and other things to students. They have fulfilled their promise to villagers who had requested some equipment. One community received a brush cutter to assist them in maintaining their community ground. If you need assistance and you do not express your needs how can they know whether you need help?
There are some residents who do not wish to participate in public activities but still support the government behind the scenes. There are some who sit back and criticize; nothing pleases them and these are the ones who try to work against the system. They say publicly that they are willing to work with the system, but that is just an illusion. Some of them do not want to acknowledge the fact that there is indeed some community development.
Now Mabaruma is to be named a town, something I did not agree with at first, because of the overburden we have to take off; however, we have to start somewhere. Mabaruma needs to put a great deal of infrastructure in place. We have to make provision for decent public roads from Kumaka to Hosororo, amd Mabaruma to Kumaka. I personally would like the Infrastructure Minister David Patterson to visit Mabaruma along with the relevant road experts, so they could examine our roads and make recommendations about the type of material which should be used on them. We would like to have quarter inch stone from the city, since the stone here is very poor and we have to repair our roads three and four times a year; this is not good enough.
We would also appreciate twelve hours of electricity and not the six hours we are presently receiving. We will need a proper water supply. That is where local government comes in for the people.
Our farmers must be able to feel more comfortable with a purchasing agency in place; this will encourage them to produce more, and we also need to enhance our agricultural station to fulfil their needs.
If our country is to develop in a sustainable manner, we should have more
factories or industries in the hinterland and encourage population growth.
What if the government opened a cooperative supermarket here in Mabaruma, so as to create employment for our young people? A town must be able to sustain itself, not depending too much on central government.
Whenever you leave the city you must feel as if you are indeed going to a town. The vessel that departs from Transport and Harbours must be clean and orderly for passengers, and when they reach Mabaruma the environment must be refreshing, so they can feel they are indeed in a town away from home.
The residents should be able to do most of their business right here in Mabaruma rather than go all the way to the city just to renew a vehicle licence or a shop licence.
It would also be very good to have prison cells built here to accommodate prisoners who are serving a two or three months’ sentence and have them do community work, thereby easing the pressure on the Camp Street jail where they could be sent if they graduate to bigger crimes.
Our regional budget will have to be improved if in reality Mabaruma is to become a town.
We also need to have trained, honest and respectable teachers, especially at the secondary level. Service and protection must be for all. The citizen must respect the law, and police officers must have respect for the citizens and their integrity should be admired by the public.
We must not allow political hindrances to bar us from developing our communities wherever they may be.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Hope