Dear Editor,
We are closely approaching our fiftieth anniversary of Independence from the British after 163 years of British rule.
It is quite nice to celebrate this special national occasion, but we are just celebrating fifty years of Independence and nothing else. The pain that our foreparents had to bear to bring this country to a reality is something that some of us may have little knowledge about.
It may or may not take another fifty years before we can achieve One People, One Nation, and One Destiny, but I wish to be around to celebrate national unification. I do not want to get too much into the national achievement by our two ruling parties; they brought disunity to our country.
Our Caricom friend Barbados got Independence the same year as Guyana and their dollar has greater value than ours. They are not a divided nation, and they have a much more stable economy than Guyana. President David Granger has created a new ministry called Social Cohesion, which is responsible for bringing the different ethnic groups from different parts of the country to live in a decent environment. I do not know if this ministry is doing its work.
While I was writing this letter a friend stopped in and said that he is very much worried because Barabina is being divided politically, and the Chairman is criticizing the government policies of the day. The Chairman’s attitude from the time he took office is not proactive. The Chairman needs to be disciplined because often when ministers come to our region he is unavailable. We the residents of Mabaruma want to know why he is not working towards the development of our region. His duties mainly are to work in cohesive fashion with the government of this country and to execute the policies of such. He is being paid by this government and not by the opposition.
About six weeks after the chairman took his office I paid him a visit. We had about forty-five minutes of discussion. I spoke to him concerning the electricity operation plan in Mabaruma that he wanted controlled by a committee/board. I said to him that whoever is elected would have to do a feasibility study to know whether it would be viable or not ‒ for instance, the consumption of fuel per month, the amount of workers, their salaries per month, the amount of liabilities, number of years left for generation, how often it is serviced, etc. In case of major repairs who will stand the cost?
It is almost one year and everything remains the same. Mabaruma is gearing up to become a town so I mentioned to him to please repair the other generator which is presently down, I also asked him to remember the Barabina Road, Autoqui Farm Road and that Hobediah farmers need assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Hope
