Chairman of the Farm/ Hydronie Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Milton Dookie is contesting the Local Government Elections independently against representatives from the two main political groups in the First-Past-the-Post component.
It came as a shock that Dookie, a marketing coordinator with the Guyana Marketing Corporation, chose not to represent the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) that he served for a number of years.
Joining the fight with Dookie to lead the community are Seokumar Singh, a joiner/poultry farmer for APNU+AFC and Khemraj Bahadur, a pandit/cash crop farmer and former auditor for the PPP/C.
They all want to see the vendors cleared from the roadside where they ply their trade illegally in front of the Hydronie market on Thursdays and Sundays.
They said that on Sundays when market is very big, the vendors would partially block the road and prevent traffic from flowing freely.
Dookie who has served as NDC chairman since 1994 said that the biggest regret he has was in 2008 when the region took over the running of the market.
He recalled that after the Caribbean Development Bank gave a loan in 2006 to develop Parika into township status, a committee, of which he was a part, was formed to manage the markets.
However, in 2008, the secretary was removed because of wrongdoing. As such, the regional office removed the committee and formed a new one through the region. “So since then there is no role for the NDC in the market,” he said.
“In 2006 we were able to get 800 vendors off the road… and re-organize the market and they started to make money.”
Dookie said it was time to “get out of the party slate” because his family members believe that the “PPP structure does not recognize dedication, honesty, commitment and ability…”
He pointed out that the PPP “had people with no credibility emerging and were getting preferences…” A resident told him that another candidate went around to campaign and she told him “bluntly that she would vote for me.”
He decided to represent the Hydronie community because of the positive response he has received from the residents.
His NDC was among the few in the country that remained as an elected council, while most of the other ones were dissolved and IMCs [Interim Management Committees] were installed.
According to him, when he took over, there was no proper drainage in the NDC and the streets were almost impassable. He said too that he installed about 35 to 40 streetlights in the NDC.
He said that the NDC office was “falling down” and he “begged” and raised $700,000 and $1M from the NDC and got support from residents to rebuild at a cheap cost.
His plans are to continue what the NDC had started such as building the streets and clearing the drainage.
Meanwhile, Dookie said it seems as though “you cannot speak out against something that is going wrong. Then how can you have improvement?”
He was referring to the Regional Executive Officer calling him “devious and wicked” because he highlighted in the media that the REO approved a cheaper material for crusher run.
He said he had called the REO last week for a grader for the ground when he responded in that manner.
Fish area
Singh has decided to run because “there are a lot of things to be done in this area. The previous administration made facilities but they don’t have services.”
He said that the fish area in the market is in an unhygienic condition and seems like an abattoir. “You have to clean up your kitchen so your friends would eat from you; that means if you clean up the community people would tour.”
Singh said many people have migrated and abandoned their land and it is overgrown with thick vegetation and he would see that it is cleared.
He said there is also the practice of residents dumping sand on the road shoulders and it washes into the drains and causes them to be silted up.
According to him, he would put up notices to stop that or would give a period of 36 hours to have it removed. Coconut trees also hang across the road and pose a hazard to traffic.
He also said that a utility pole is leaning and they would call the power company to remove it but it would not show up.
Singh said that the residents were “paying tax and they need good road.” He promised to not just serve one set of people but the entire community.
He plans to develop the playground to a multi-purpose centre to benefit everyone.
He too lamented that motorists are not given a place to drive on Sundays because the “vendors take it over.”
He would also see that the garbage that residents dumped at the road shoulder would be cleaned up. Singh also plans to get the residents to remove the small tubes they put in the trenches, preventing the water to drain adequately.
Beneficial
In the case of Bahadur, he never wanted to “get into politics” but decided to become a candidate after residents encouraged him.
They felt that he would be a good leader because he was of a decent character. Bahadur is confident that he can do something beneficial for the community.
He said the NDC has done well but there were certain lapses in terms of maintaining the drains. “They would clean the drains only during the rainy season…”
Bahadur would also take care of the issues in the market with garbage pollution and illegal vending.
He said he would love to see tertiary institutions established in the community so residents would not have to travel to George-town. He recalled that since he finished writing CXC about 20 years ago there has been no facility there for higher learning.
He would also like to see the establishment of a proper health facility so residents would not have to travel to the West Demerara Regional Hospital or Georgetown for certain treatment.
Bahadur said that if government wants to make Parika a town, it needs more investors.
