On June 12, 2023, the APNU incumbent, Clayton Hinds will face a challenge from four other men in Sophia-Liliendaal North and adjoining areas.
The five are competing for the First-Past-The-Post local government elections (LGE), in Constituency Five, Georgetown. That area encompasses Sophia-Liliendaal North and South, Pattensen-Turkeyen North and South Central and Sophia-Pattensen Central.
Besides APNU representative, Hinds; PPP/C representative, Andre Jackman; Independent Citizens for Progress representative, Ramcharitar Singh; Movement for Unity and Democracy representative, Telroy Mc Almont and Dr Josh Kanhai, an independent candidate are competing.
Stabroek News was unable to contact Singh.
Asked what he had done for his community over the years and why he should be re-elected, Hinds told Stabroek News that he was able to rehabilitate and rebuild the community centre in Liliendaal in A Field. He added that there were bridges linking Farmers Field to Meadow Brook to facilitate children going to school which he was able to have executed.
“Further to that, in collaboration with the central government, under the IDB programme, we were able to improve the conditions of the road and the building of some bridges linking A Field to B field and B Field to C Field. Recently, as a result of constant requests by the residents, we were able to get the central government to build a linking bridge from Constituency Five to Constituency Twelve, which was commonly referred to as the ‘Blacka Bridge’”. This is not fully completed, but it is back in use. In fact, just before that exercise was done, the bridge was in bad shape and there had been many requests to have that it redone, he said. The councillor said that there have been continuous engagements with young people in the community in relation to issues of interest.
He said that the people living in his constituency are people from all parts of the country and he would usually refer to the constituency as the United States of America. “The experience and expectation of these people are different and I have been able to engage groups and clubs in this round to address issues of interest to young people. We know that teenage pregnancy and the use of psychotropic substances is a problem in that area. These things don’t grow in there and it is coming from outside, you will find that there is a need and there have been small interventions that have not been impacting as I would have liked it to be. It is an issue that needs more in depth collaboration with the central government and other NGO’s to address these problems”, he said.
With regard to rates and taxes, the councillor said that during the Covid pandemic, there were a number of people who went to the bank for loans to build houses and he advocated for those persons in constituency five and six.
“Because of Covid, I advocated at the level of council, that those persons who had to pay taxes under that scheme, paid no interest, all interest had been waived for the residents because of the advocacy of this councillor”, he said.
The APNU representative will be advocating for projects which he think can be useful going forward. He said that he is looking at an agricultural programme for the constituency. He added that there are a lot of reserves being occupied by people putting up homesteads.
“The whole exercise has to be done in collaboration with the central government, where you will find plots of land for these people who are occupying these reserves on the dam, making the reserves available”, he said.
“Another area that I have already proposed, is the need to upgrade the health centre in B Field, which can be described as a Cottage Hospital. Why I am saying that, is because the population strength of this block, both in constituency five and six, would be about 30 to 35,000 people living in that block,” he said. The health centre don’t have a holistic kind of service to address the problems parents and persons of advanced age would encounter and the councillor said there is a need for a developed Cottage Hospital, with a 24-hour service and the presence of doctors all the time.
He said that he and his team were able to get the IDB to do what he would call a multipurpose centre in C Field, to serve the needs for constituency five and six. The centre would cater for social activities in both of the constituency. “There are still grounds in A and B Field that need upgrading and those were issues raised already and I am hoping in this round, that central government will support it. There is what I called an undesirable approach by central government where there is a pronounced kind of withholding of funds to the Mayor and City Council, to execute these projects. We can do so much more in the constituency, if we get the support and resources to execute these works and with the engagement of the community”, he explained.
Community services
PPP/C candidate Andre Jackman told Stabroek News “I have always been excited about community services and within my neighbourhood, I have assisted lots of children over the years with different stuff like giving advice to helping them get jobs and so on. I was asked to join the local government elections and I said why not take up the challenge to see if I can make further impact. I have lived in the area for over 35 plus years and I started out living on B field and for the last 10-13 years, I am living here on Farmers Field in my own property and a lot has changed over the years within the community. Especially in my area and the neighbouring areas like Plum Park, A and B North Sophia. More and more the areas are developing and the current government is leading the way in that effort”.
The PPP/C candidate said that constituency five is the largest out of the fifteen constituencies in the city. Therefore, his first task would be to establish sub groups in each area, for residents to receive direct representation. He said that they will have a look at the B Field health centre and have some other facilities added, such as dental care and midwifery. The candidate also has hopes to repair the community centres at A and B Field, to have skills training and a night care facility for single mothers.
The first-time candidate is hoping to have a police outpost closer to A and B Field, to reduce the high crime rate in the community, especially in Farmers Field, Plum Park and A and B Field. This is because the Turkeyen and Prashad Nagar Police Stations are too far away to address security in a timely manner. Jackman said that he was able to have four ministers visit areas within Constituency Five, to identify some immediate development needed and this was done in just over a month of being selected to represent the PPP/C. He said that commitments are being made by the government to have the work done and completed before June 12, 2023. “I will also be reaching out to the NGOs and spiritual groups and leaders to come on board and work together in helping our young people and families in different areas. My dream for Constituency Five is to see if we all can work as a community and not work in isolation,” the candidate stated.
In any area, youth development is important, and the PPP/C representative says he will work on having skills training programmes that will provide job opportunities. He also said that they are hoping to work along with the Ministry of Human Services and the Ministry of Housing, to deal with some of the social issues, and help the squatters qualify for their own low income house lots.
Stabroek News asked the forty-five-year-old accountant about securing funding for his plans and projects. “The last few weeks my team and I would have had a …walk within A and B Field, where a large number of residents came out. There was also a dominoes competition held in Liliendaal, where five out of eight areas in the constituency, participated”, he said. On the 26 of May, Independence Day, there was to be a take- away lunch in Plum Park. The funds from the sale will help the community accumulate lights. There will also be an expectation of other community fund raising activities and many future approaches to the central government and other shareholders for help whenever needed, he added.
“There are more ministers and government officials visiting the areas and some will want to say that it is due to elections, but that is not the case. Since the government return to power, there has been lots of work that was completed on C Field with a new playfield, North Sophia received a new community centre, B Field have the reconstruction of the B field bridge and in his area, Farmers Field, there are good street lights”, he stated.
The candidate said that there is still lots of work to be done and if elected, he is going to ask residents of Constituency Five, to invest in him for a developed constituency. “The few elections they have elected councilors from the APNU side and they did nothing for them. Matter of a fact, the same councillor who is actually running again along with the then deputy mayor moved a nomination to have Sophia handed over to mayor and city council, for residents to pay even more rates and taxes than communities, which are more developed than Sophia. Myself and team is not about that, we are about working with the people and helping them to develop as well as the communities. It’s a team effort and all they are asked to do on June 12, is to come out in their large numbers and vote for Andre Jackman or put their X by the cup. Give us a chance to do better, the work has already started to empower me to do more,’’ he said.
A better country and I want change
The Movement for Unity and Democracy candidate Telroy Mc Almont said that over the years, he saw his community struggling and the youths being discriminated against because of where they came from. He said thanks to the central government, certain things were done, but there is more to be done and when the previous government called local government elections, he was happy and saw it as an opportunity for something to be done in his community, but after the elections, the candidate that won, vanished and all the promises that were made, vanished with him.
“I saw a broken community, a year later that candidate stepped down, which gave me new hope that the next person in line would come and actually do something but that wasn’t the case. I watched on and said to myself, I need to go and contest for this constituency, my community needs someone to stand up, someone to be their voice and I’m ready to be that voice, I’m ready to be that someone the youths in the community need and someone to talk for them,” Mc Almont shared as his reason for joining the elections. “When people hear of Sophia, Plum Park and Farmers Field, they got harsh things to say about us and call us all types of names. But no, my community is beautiful with lots of friendly and hardworking people, we have lots of professionals within our constituency such as doctors, lawyer, hydrographic surveyors, professional footballers etc. This is what pushed me to join because I want to see a better Sophia, a better Plum Park, a better Farmers Field, and a better North Sophia and Belair. When you hear of these places you must want to go live there,” he elaborated.
The new party’s representative told Stabroek News, that if he is elected, he would like to start by doing a complete makeover of the areas within constituency five, by putting focus into more youth programmes, form a few youth groups, create jobs for the youths to get more young professionals on board to help him educate the youths in the areas.
“I have plans for some parks for these communities, so on the weekends or even in the afternoon after work, you can go sit and have recreational time with your family, play ball, swing or just sit, talk and relax,” he said. The first-time politician in the First-Past-The-Post local government elections quoted Dr Martin Luther King Jr as saying, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”.
The twenty-nine-year-old entrepreneur said
that when he (there is no if in his vocabulary) is elected, he will fund his projects through business partnerships and through the council and community partnerships.
“I should be elected because I am here to get the job done, I want a better community, a better country and I want change. I am not here to make promises and not keep them, now is the time for young blood who is vibrant and energetic. Time for the future to start working, time for change and try something new. Come June 12, I am not telling anyone where to vote, but vote with your heart, vote for what is
right and vote for democracy. I know where my X going to be come June 12. Right next to Movement for Unity and Democracy, and next to my photograph,” he asserted.
Cross streets
Dr Josh Kanhai, an independent candidate, will be taking on the challenge to compete for his constituency. The 27-year-old candidate said that his plans for development begin at the community centre in Section A Sophia, and the centre will be maintained every month as this was not previously done. He stated that the centre will also be used for programmes where he will encourage faith-based leaders, NGO’s and others to develop and implement programmes for children, teenagers and adults.
“These programnes will be holistic and will cover health, entrepreneurship, self-development, at-risk youths development etc. There will be weekly volunteer driven programmes and I will ensure that a robust programme is set up to accommodate at the centre for the government’s interventions in Sophia, especially training interventions, job fairs etc. Another aspect of community development I will undertake, is to see that the cross streets between sections A to B and B to C, are tarred or concreted along with bringing the drainage system up to M&CC legal standard. The drainage initiative in Sophia will assist with the flooding efforts and most importantly, assist with vector control. Vector control is another front I’d like to place emphasis on given that a lot of infectious diseases are transmitted by vectors, more commonly the mosquito and flies. Stagnant water is a nesting place for vectors so having the drainage in order will alleviate that issue and vector-borne diseases are an issue to infants and children and they are the ones we have to keep healthy so that they have good school attendance. The immediate solution to the vector control situation will be to formally ask and work with the vector control unit to schedule spray days or nights on a consistent basis until we have the drains up to standard,” he said.
The medical doctor attached to the Pathology Department at the GPHC, said that the people of Turkeyen and Liliendaal, can look forward to concrete drains and improvement to their basic road infrastructure and he will also work with the people through North Sophia and Downer Canal, to provide the necessary amenities for living and work with them to secure a better future.
“Maintenance will be regular and scheduled. Streetlights will be installed through public
means and also I will personally advocate for businesses to contribute toward such causes. I will encourage residents to be involved in the decision-making process, as I will encourage monthly village meetings. I will also promote the small businesses in the area of Sophia, by pushing them toward grants and developing their capacity to achieve loans. I will also aim to have an annual community engagement forum and fun day to build cohesion and foster unity in the Constituency, of course the other constituencies are invited”, he stated.
Dr Kanhai said that he decided to run independently, because the political party (United Republican Party) he was a part of, decided not to contest in the local government elections. “Given my passion to represent my people, I have decided to go head-on into the LGE independently. This strategy also gives me a chance to express my views and concerns as they are and not as they are made to be,” the independent candidate told Stabroek News.
