Dear Editor,
During the years that the PPP was in office we saw dictatorship at all levels from local government (NDCs) to central government. We saw and heard ministers and top PPP officials dictate what should happen. They did not allow the right procedures to take their course. Now that they are in opposition they are still dictating what should be happening at the levels they control.
I can recall that the Minister who was heading the then Ministry of Local Government made an order for NDC overseers to be transferred to different NDCs to work. The reason given to the Guyanese people was that the overseers could not function properly because they were living in the areas they were serving. But this wasn’t the case. The then Minister wanted control of all the NDCs and municipalities, so PPP personnel were placed as overseers and town clerks in the opposition controlled entities. During that time developmental works started to decline in the villages, due to poor knowledge on the part of the overseers of the areas they served, in addition to which many of them had to do what the then Minister said.
Today in Berbice both Regions 5 and 6 are seeing the PPP displaying dictatorship habits in the NDCs and towns that they control. They are directing their overseers and town clerks about what to do, namely to undermine developmental works that should be taking place within their areas of control.
I would like to remind Mr Anil Nandlall, who on his weekly TV programme here on NTN in Berbice is telling NDC officials that they do not have to listen to central government or the subject minister, that this is not the time to play with the local development of our people. This is the time for us to work towards a better Guyana.
Under the PPP money was spent like sand, yet not a single street stood the test of time. Not a playground was properly built. Not a proper drainage system was put into place. There were bushes all over the street corners. Village drains were silted up. Workers from the Community Enhancement Programme were used to clean places for PPP rallies and meetings throughout Berbice.
A PPP supervisor called a press conference a few days back where several members of PPP controlled NDCs in the region talked about works not being done in their area. One NDC official from Bush Lot mentioned the flooding in the area, and that machines had been deployed but none had been deployed in Bush Lot.
This is far from the truth. During the recent flooding in No 30 to Golden Grove, the Bush Lot area did not suffer severe flooding. Over the years when the PPP was in power they did nothing to assist the residents of those areas, knowingly they were low lying and could be flooded easily. The machines weren’t deployed to clean drain after drain but to clean the main outfalls, canals and drains in the area to assist in getting the water to recede through the Trafalgar and Bush Lot sluices.
This official who sits on the NDC should ask the people in his area to tell whoever is blocking the small interlocking drains not to do so. If anyone had visited the Bush Lot area they would know about the poor drainage system that this government inherited from the PPP there.
This now brings me to another matter that was highlighted by the Vice Chairman of the Bath/Woodley Park NDC. He said that works in the area cannot be done due to the fact that the NDC subvention is not being given for the NDC in 2016. Now this is another PPP controlled NDC. This NDC collects rates and taxes like all other NDCs. There are rents from the Bath Settlement daily market, as well as the rent from the vendors who sell every Friday on the tarmac opposite the Bath pay office. They have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the rental of the Bath Community Centre Ground since they took office.
I can speak about this NDC more because I live there. The management of the NDC sees it fitting to place street barriers but yet the streets are being destroyed. Instead of blocking the main access streets, they decided to block streets that have no use. For example, a barrier is placed in front of my yard but yet all the trucks and other vehicles come to where the barrier is and stop to do business. This happens from both ends of the street. So instead of placing four barriers that will protect all the streets, they place three barriers that do not have any use because the streets are still being damaged. They have done the same thing in Bath Settlement.
The PPP needs to allow local democracy to work. They should stop intervening in NDC matters and allow the people who have been put there to manage their areas. If this is done we will see better management from all the NDC officials, no matter who is in control.
I call upon the managers of the NDCs to do the work they ought to do and to remember that the PPP did not put them there, but rather the people. They should allow their communities to benefit from development. The people in the villages are not stupid and they know that development is not taking place, because the people they put there are listening to politicians.
I call on the people to demand development works from those they put there to represent them, and ensure that they serve the people.
I call on the Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to launch an investigation into the work of the NDCs so that the amount of funds generated by the NDCs per year can be made public, along with the projects they have engaged in and the balance they have in their bank accounts. He should also host village meetings with the NDC officials and let residents know the truth.
Yours faithfully,
Abel Seetaram
APNU+AFC Regional
Councilor
Region 5