Dear Editor,
During this last quarter of 2016 there have been a record number of visits by ministers of the APNU+AFC coalition government to Lethem and the sub-districts of Region Nine. It was obvious that their presence here in the Rupununi was for government official business, and as senior functionaries, inevitably they were unavailable for direct contact with their party supporters because of their time-consuming responsibilities.
Nevertheless, I wish to commend our Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman and Minister of Public Infra-structure David Patterson, who recently took some time off from their busy schedules in Lethem to meet with AFC party supporters to discuss issues relating to the party. This brief but interactive session which was facilitated by these two young and energetic Ministers will go a far way, since it is very important for our leaders to keep a channel of communication open to their grassroots supporters and membership as a means of assessing the mood of their constituencies. It also would be an opportunity for our ministers to establish a rapport with core members and to give them some insights into strengthening the AFC party base, while moving away from the parochial approach, which has had a negative impact on the lives of the people of the Rupununi. In this way they will create greater participation.
This transformational mode is of vital importance to the change that was put in place by the new coalition government, and our AFC leaders can now have their supporters in a position to make some important inputs into the policy-making process.
In addition to this, hats off to our Minister within the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Valerie Garrido-Lowe and her staff, who all worked tirelessly in the Rupununi to clear up the misconceptions of the HEYS programme that is now full in progress. Also our Minister of Business with responsibility for Tourism Dominic Gaskin, who was also in Lethem for the Rupununi Expo 2016. Congratulations to his hard-working staff and officers from the Bureau of Statistics who were able to run off a number of training workshops for business initiatives at St Ignatius village, which were a great success. The persons who participated can now apply for a loan or grant to kickstart their business when they have completed training.
It also was an excellent opportunity to witness the distribution of laptops to our teachers of the Rupununi, when our Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Sydney Allicock and Minister of Public Communications Cathy Hughes made these presentations on November 10 to fulfil a promise made by President David Granger.
Things are happening in the Rupununi, except for some who are in battle, behaving like 16th century soldiers with outdated weapons, loading and reloading to fire back, and who are out of harmony.
Editor, if the AFC can continue to deliver results through their hard-working ministers, there will be good prospects ahead for the people of the Rupununi, and the objectives of the APNU+AFC coalition government will be more readily attained in this new democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Anthony Rodrigues
