The riverine communities of Orealla and Siparuta on Wednesday elected a 26-year-old teacher to be their new toshao.
Laurence Vandenburg, a teacher by profession of Orealla, managed to secure 206 votes ahead of former Toshao, Lewis Devair who got 153 votes. Vandenburg was sworn in yesterday morning.
According to a statement from the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six, the other nominees were Thesius Henry who scored 180 votes and David Henry with 111 votes.
The statement said that Vandenberg expressed that he was honoured to be elected to serve the people of the two riverine communities “and intends to put his best foot forward in ensuring that residents’ lives are improved.
“He said the priority areas for him are to put systems in place to ensure improved service of electricity, water supply, and proper management of the council’s finances.”
The Region’s statement noted that following the swearing-in of the 15 councillors and Toshao, the Regional Executive Officer, Narendra Persaud, who functioned as the Returning Officer for the elections reiterated that “the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration intends to work closely with the council to ensure that the community benefits from similar opportunities as persons residing on the coast irrespective of political affiliation.”
Meanwhile, the councillors elected for Siparuta were Phylino Williams, Shurl Valenzuela, Anisa Alstine, Enoch Aaron. Neil Wong, Rudolph Hutson, while Selwyn Edwards, Collin Devair, Marlon Edwards, Gracia Rogers, Lisa Lewis, Ravin Hendricks, Charles Sarius, Vashti Ram and Shondalene Russell were elected as councillors for Orealla.
