With a president finally declared after five long months of waiting, Guyanese are now able to return to focussing on what’s most important in their lives and what are some of the issues they’d want this administration to give priority to.
People’s priorities differ as it relates to what they feel is most needed at this point in time for the betterment of themselves and families. But half of the people who reside in Belle Vue, West Bank of Demerara, who were spoken to by Stabroek News, shared similar views.
Robert Singh had stopped his bicycle to chat with the driver (name withheld) of a car. For Singh, his most immediate concern was the prosecution of Returning Officer of Region 4, Clairmont Mingo, and Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, for their alleged fraudulent actions during Guyana’s general elections. According to the man, “if crime is illegal for the small man,” then those who have bigger responsibilities in Guyana, should be held accountable also.
Singh went on to share another matter he wants to see addressed. According to him, the pasture opposite the community was once all sugarcane fields owned by the Belle Vue Cooperative Society said to consist of fifty-five members. Now the chairman of the co-op is said to own most of the land which he turned into a cow pasture. “Wales Estate used to be the capital for we area, now is a dead-end. If we can get some of the land from the cow pasture to plant would be good”, Singh said.
Meanwhile, the car driver shared that part of the land belongs to his wife adding that they had invested several million dollars on it before an official of the Society destroyed the farms and fenced it for a cow pasture. He stated that the land belonging to his wife has since been taken away and demanded that the land be returned. The driver added that prior to the land becoming a cattle farm, farmers gave lots of taxes to the chairman. “About eleven persons didn’t sell and he [the chairman] just trample on them…We want the government help we get back we land,” the car driver said.
It is said that the land was distributed among the fifty-five members back when the Wales Sugar Estate was run by Bookers.
Ramcharran Sukhram sat in his hammock in the company of two relatives who had come to visit owing to the passing of his sister in Canada. “The most important thing for us is getting back our land. Since 2007 this story start with we, my father used to pay tax and rent for the land. When we had go to [late] Minister Satyadeow Sawh, he check we papers and said when you pay rent and tax, it means that you own the land. He said he couldn’t understand what was going on and would call the manager at the Wales Estate and the manager said she meet it like that, and she won’t do anything about it. I went to the chairman before this chairman, he dead now. When I tell him this man going and buy we land, the chairman said ‘no you can’t buy membership, this land not for sale’. This new chairman turn and said, that we can’t tell he that, he know what he gon do”, the man said.
Sukhram added that he had planted ground provision which he was able to harvest prior to his land being taken away. He had also planted coconut trees which according to him were eaten by the cows and goats. He noted that the matter eventually ended up at the magistrate’s court and though he had his documents, he did not go to court being a man who tries to avoid trouble. This action of course led to the case being discarded. “This scheme here is mainly PPP supporters. We want back we land. All ah we father had get fifteen acres each. This man nah even seh fuh give we one acre land,” the sixty-nine-year-old resident stated.
Pencil
David Richard stood in one of the streets talking with another resident. He was on his way home. A carpenter, he sported a pencil behind his ear. Richard said he wanted the new administration to create more jobs. He once worked in the lab at the Wales Sugar Estate until its closure before he was forced to go into construction which he said has been really slow.
Richard added that owing to the pandemic and the loss of jobs, the government should look towards supporting Guyanese even if it’s with taking care of their utilities. The man said he is unsure whether the estate can be reopened but even so, the factory, he said, should be put to other uses. Asked what he thought they could do, the carpenter said that he doesn’t quite know adding that whatever they choose to do, it should fall along the line of agriculture since that’s what most people in his area spent all of their lives doing and farming may be the only skill many of them possess.
For Ravendra Persaud, he believes that before anything else can be looked at the government needs to address officials of the previous administration. “I prefer they investigate the (officials) them on the wealth they achieve in the last five years. I feel money was misused. The treasury empty. The gold reserve had billions of dollars and now it down to only millions. They got to do something about these (officials) before they move on to anything else,” Persaud said.
Utilities
Kissoon Rajpat who sat in the shade of a tree talking to another resident, Calvin Belgrave, shared that what was of most importance to him was the creation of jobs and assistance with their utilities. The fifty-six-year-old man pointed out that he was currently working every now and again whenever the region needed him to clean trenches. “Utilities got us bad and because we ain’t really getting work, we can’t do nothing about it”, Rajpat lamented.
Paying for garbage removal is another issue. Just last week he shared that a worker with Puran’s Brothers Disposal Inc confronted him about outstanding monies he owed the company. “We not saying that we won’t pay but we need help,” the man had pleaded.
Meanwhile, Belgrave hadn’t much of anything to say. “It ain’t matter who in government, you still got to get up every day and go to work. If you don’t work, you can’t get pay. I just hope that everybody benefit from the oil money,” the contractor said.
Victoria, East Coast Demerara resident, Anthony Thomas, is a craftsman with the Guyana Water Inc (GWI). He was at the GWI pump station in Belle Vue getting some work done. He had several priorities on his list, he hopes the new government takes care of soon enough. “This government promise a lot of things… They promise $50,000 grant for public school children. I hope they can start working on this. They promise a new harbour bridge too. You see all like how I got to go home this afternoon, you’ll see traffic at the bridge. I would take like three hours to reach home till where I living”, Thomas said.
Thomas’ colleague who works with GWI also, Trevor July, started with the promised increase for public servants to be the government’s top priority. A new harbour bridge as well as the $50,000 public school grants are two other things he looks forward to. July, who lives in Wales, said he would also like that better working environments are provided for the working class.
Mon Repos resident, Ajay Bissessar, an engineer sat on the edge of an excavator resting. He would like the PPP government to make infrastructure their priority. He called for better roads within communities. With regard to crime, Bissessar added that he would like to see crime in the country tackled so that people feel safer. The man called for more stringent measures when it comes to the adhering to the COVID guidelines, noting that while there is nothing wrong with the guidelines, he would like to see the police enforce them. Bissessar would be the only person to consider the raging pandemic to be one of the government’s top priorities.
Ramjohn (only name) sat outside on a bench among several teens playing cards. He stepped aside to talk with Stabroek News. “It got a lot of things they need to look at soon but I’ll start with tax. Yes, the APNU government drop VAT by 2% but they also added the same VAT on a lot of other items that not supposed to get tax, so eventually you end up paying more. I want them investigate these APNU (officials) also to see what they do with the money that the treasury empty. They [APNU] don’t even have anything to show for the empty treasury. I want them create jobs too. It will take time for them to do all of this but I believe in them that they will do it,” Ramjohn said.
The sixty-three-year-old man shared that he had worked for forty-three years with the Wales Estate but the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) can’t seem to find his contributions. Currently he barely works adding that he has a family to take care of. Creation of jobs he repeated is what should be of utmost importance to the new government.
Several of the houses that were constructed during Bookers Bros‘ time.
