A ninety-year-old man, a retired head teacher and an information technology consultant are set to battle on Friday to represent Meadow Bank-Agricola on the Mayor and City Council.
Contesting the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) race for constituency 15 in Georgetown are Philip Inshanally, representing the People’s Progressive Party/Civic; 90-year-old James Samuels for A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance for Change and Georgina Lewis for Benschop for Mayor.
Stabroek News was unable to contact Inshanally.
Lewis, a part-time lecturer at the Cyril Potter College of Education told Stabroek News that she got involved in local government elections after persons who believe she is a suitable candidate asked if she wasn’t getting involved. She said that the constant approach by people motivated her to get involved.
She told Stabroek News that the issues she is seeking to address are bad roads, lack of street lights, poor drainage, faulty pipelines and creating avenues for human empowerment. Lewis who has been part of environmental clubs while being a teacher said she would advocate for the return of health inspectors to visit homes to observe sanitary conditions and give recommendations. The former head teacher also said that she would be advocating for residents to have regular clean ups with assistance from the city council.
“We can’t just be cleaning up when there is a big celebration we need to keep our environment clean’’, she added.
She said being a pastor of the Victory Bible Way Church in Meadow Bank she has worked with youths from different walks of life and has realized that career guidance and youth motivation are important. Lewis said that she plans to work with youths and look at the possibilities of hosting classes to aid them in making the right decisions.
When Stabroek News asked how she intends to fund the projects, Lewis said that she would approach the government and city council. She explained that she would submit draft plans to demonstrate how the funds would be spent.
For Lewis, campaigning has been a great experience. She said that she has been able to reunite with students and parents from the communities who have given her their support.
Creating employment
Samuels told Stabroek News after returning from a campaign walk that he is focused on developing the skills of youths and creating employment. He said that creating employment is the only way crime can be solved.
On the question of whether voters might think that he is too old to be running for the seat, Samuels said he knows he can do the job.
Samuels, a former telecommunications worker, said he would push to make his constituency the hub of computer technicians and telecommunications. He said that such a programme would create opportunities for employment. Samuels said he has already written the director of technical education seeking permission to establish classes.
The aspirant to the council seat says is he also focused on recreating community development in the form of social interaction. He made reference to the days when the community would go out and support local concerts with choir singing. He said such activities are needed in the communities because the people need to build relationships and look out for each other.
He added that he would advocate for his constituency to impose heavy fines to curb the culture of littering and would also seek to have drains cleaned to prevent mosquito-borne diseases.
He further stated that he would bring City Hall’s attention to the Agricola cemetery which he describes as a section of the Amazon rainforest. He said that the cemetery is an eyesore and it is time that it be cleaned and spruced up.
Samuels stated that he would also advocate to have his community be serviced with street lights and treated water. “Sometimes the water pressure is low and it is very red… we need water that don’t stain our homes’ bathrooms and utensils”, he said. When asked about funding for his proposed line-up of projects he said that he would look at the possibilities of City Hall being able to fund some and the government through the different ministries. However, he said that he would ask residents to help fund the street lights projects and help pay the bills.
Samuels added that he would also seek to address the rates and taxes paid by owners of properties. “This is probably the only city in the Caribbean where the taxes are so low… we can’t have that any more”, he said pointing out that he would seek discussion in City Hall to review the taxes.
He said that he is going to also recommend that there be high quality surveillance cameras to help stop crime. “We have some cameras but when you go to look at the face you can’t see anything… so we need cameras that are able to capture quality images”, the aspiring councillor said.
Samuels said campaigning has been exciting and he has been given positive feedback.
