Hearing that the Tapakuma Lake Primary School in Region Two has been without electricity because the solar panel batteries have expired, Minister of Social Protection, Dr George Norton, on Wednesday indicated willingness to source funding for the donation of five new batteries to the school. A release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) stated that during a community meeting at the Mainstay Multipurpose Hall at Lake Mainstay, Essequibo, which followed a ‘Government comes to you’ outreach at Damon Square, Anna Regina, the issue was raised by a teacher-in-charge at the primary school.
“At present, our electricity supply is down. Government would have put in place a solar supply electricity system which to date, the batteries for the system have expired, and so the school is without any electricity,” the educator, Fenton Williams related.
DPI reported that Norton acknowledged that he was made aware of the matter some months ago, but noted that theirs is not the only school in need of assistance. Nevertheless, he stated that steps will be taken to have the issue hopefully resolved.
“We have encountered similar situations elsewhere in Guyana. We managed to resolve those and we hope to resolve this situation here in Tapakuma, especially since I had promised them. I hope that I would be able to source the funding to supply them with those five solar batteries,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who was also part of the Essequibo community outreaches, and who had made a visit to the Aurora Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast, pledged to donate $100,000 in sports equipment to the Pomona Football Club, to aid in the meaningful engagement of the community’s youths.
Self-help
Among the cohort of ministers who visited the Essequibo communities, was recently-appointed Minister of Public Service, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.
Sarabo-Halley met with residents at Damon Square, Anna-Regina, during the ‘Government comes to you’ initiative, where she encouraged residents to adopt self-help solutions and to unify to overcome their issues.
DPI reported that among the issues raised were youth unemployment, public security, and the state of the Anna Regina Market, which one resident, Maxine Stewart, explained was the result of the wayward practices of the vendors.
“The reason I said that the market is dubbed an eyesore is due to vendors being able to vend wherever they wish without any consequence. They hold up traffic and leave garbage where they vend simply because they were told to do so. If Georgetown can be clean then Anna Regina can be clean as well and so for me, we need some tidy up,” Stewart explained.
She said that the vendors had begun to act in that manner after they were directed to do so by representatives of the opposition, who “encouraged them to do what they want, as opposition to the region’s vision for organised vending,” DPI reported.
While she agreed that the issues need urgent attention, especially with relation to youth employment, the minister noted that there is need for unity and for self-help initiatives to be employed to achieve the goals. Further, she stressed that with the support of government and unity of the residents, many of the community’s challenges can be addressed.
“The community must want to work to make it look better. Whether the councillors are removed or not they [residents] should recognise the importance of this. As far as I can see, there is a lot of disunity among the people, and it saddens me because it is our region, yet we choose not to be our brothers and sisters’ keeper,” the minister lamented.
Meanwhile, DPI stated that Member of Parliament, John Adams, apologised for the absence of Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, and noted that while she had been desirous of attending the meeting, it had not been possible. He, however, assured that she will visit the community and engage them in more in-depth dialogue to address their issues.
