Dear Editor,
The contention from Ryhaan Shah that “…all the talk of the coming development from public officials always extend to large scale projects that will cost trillions and trillions of dollars…” is unfortunate. This misguided claim was made in a in a letter published in the Friday, May 7th edition of Stabroek News. The letter writer seems not to understand that successful governments are ones that engage in a multi-faceted approach to development. This is what the PPP/C government has embarked on and is doing. So it is misleading to say talk of development ALWAYS has to do with large scale projects, although one can understand why large scale projects may be headline grabbers in the local press. In attempting to justify the claim, mention is made of the construction of eight new hotels and Minister Juan Edghill’s call for Guyanese to be prepared. For clarity, the call for preparedness was clearly in reference to youths taking advantage of available educational opportunities so when these investments are realized the opportunities that come with them can be accessed by Guyanese. Only this week, Minister Juan Edghill, during an outreach in South Georgetown, called for youths to take advantage of the Government’s 20,000 Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarships programme. Importantly, it must be stressed that the eight hotels are not being built at the expense of taxpayers. The Government has facilitated these investments that will create some 3,000 jobs for Guyanese and increase demand for goods and services, among other benefits.
Also, the government has not been ignoring the issues of infrastructure and crime – to focus on large scale projects – as is being insinuated. Last month, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) reported an almost 35 per cent decrease in all categories of serious crime from January 1 to March 31, 2021 to the corresponding period last year. Further, billions are being spent on roads, sea defences and upgrades to infrastructure. Efforts to further the government’s development agenda are ongoing all across Guyana. Even as work in ongoing in these areas – rehabilitation works at Hunter Street, Alexander Village being one of the most recent actions – Guyana is not Georgetown or Region 4 or just the Coast. Guyana is Kwakwani, Region 10, where resident are set to benefit from a second round of upgrades, valued $25 million, to their internal roads. Guyana is Wikki/Calcuni, Region 10, where $18 million has been set aside to aid developmental works. Guyana is Pirara, Region 9, where major infrastructural works are underway to repair the damaged and critically important Pirara Bridge. Guyana is Orealla, Region 6, where a new $100 million road is planned to increase access to quarries in the Region.
I can continue to list the number of initiatives, not only in public infrastructure and security, but in other areas, including education and human services, the latter seeing a new initiative, WIN, to support women and help them become more financially independent. The letter writer also lists a host of “basic services and amenities” that Guyanese need and charges that these are not being SPOKEN about. The fact is those issues cited were addressed in the government’s manifesto and updates on the work being done have been made public. If Rhyaan Shah expects government officials to speak about everything, all the time, there would be very little time to actually get work done. The PPP/C government has been in office for a short nine months and has made clear that it is committed to delivering on its promises – as is being evidenced. This task is made harder by the fact that we are also battling a COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, work is being done, much more work in nine short months than the former APNU+AFC Coalition government managed in five years. If there is a specific area where Ryhaan Shah feels more attention should be focused, then why not say so? Persons with the capacity to do so should make representation on issues, more so if they affect the wellbeing of our people.
This undertaking, however, would be better served if the person making the representation gets to the point, instead of engaging in generalities, obfuscation and misrepresentations.
Sincerely,
Erin Northe