GINA | GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AGENCY

Depressed Community Needs Committee has achieved much
-PNCR criticisms destructive

A GINA Feature

The Depressed Community Needs Committee, a fruit of the earlier Dialogue Process between Government and the Opposition, has achieved much. This Committee is testimony to inclusive governance and to what can be achieved when government and the Opposition work together.

Origin & composition of the Committee

Members of the Committee.

This Committee is one of the six announced in a joint statement by President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition Mr. Desmond Hoyte after their second meeting on April 25, 2001 in the agreed dialogue process.
Under a seven-point Terms of Reference, the Depressed Community Needs Committee was established and co-chaired by Government Representative Ms. Philomena Sahoye-Shury and opposition Representative and Parliamentarian Mr. Andy Goveia, who has since died. He was replaced by Mr. Clement Corlette, RDC Councillor in Region Ten. The other members are Clyde Roopchand, Harrynarine Nawbatt, Shirley Edwards, Randolph Blackette, James Mc Allister and Abdool Rahim.
The nine-member committee held community meetings with leaders, residents, religious organizations, and the Regional Democratic Council to identify within the Regions, areas in which work could be done to reduce the level of Poverty in Guyana.

Areas identified for projects

Sixty-nine communities were earmarked as ‘depressed.’ After consultations with residents these were prioritised. The projects may include roads, dams, water supply, drainage and irrigation, social services, health, environmental, educational facilities, youth and women projects.
The first four communities identified - Meten-Meer-Zorg and De Kinderen, Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), and Buxton and Enterprise/Non-Pariel, Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) - for assistance under the programme funded through the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP). The PRSP allocated $15M for the projects in each community.
With the exception of Buxton, residents of the other areas chose to have their communities electrified. Drainage works were done in Buxton.
The next batch of communities listed by the Committee are Fyrish/Gibraltar and Hogstye/Lancaster in Region Six, (East Berbice/Corentyne) and Victory Valley and Blue Berry Hill Linden. The Region Six communities have chosen to have mobile water pumps installed, since these areas are easily flooded, as well as construction of revetment at façade canal and construction of security huts.

Overview of the projects in Fyrish/Gibraltar & Hogstye/Lancaster

In March, Cabinet gave its ‘no-objection’ to the award of the contract to procure the mobile pumps overseas.
The contract was advertised through the National Drainage and Irrigation Board and awarded after the National Tendering Process. The cost was $29,840,000.
However, because the pumps are not available in Guyana and have to be imported from the US, they have not been installed as yet. According to the ND&IB the contractor was contacted recently for an update and it is expected that the pumps would be here shortly. Upon arrival, they will take three weeks to install.
However the May/June rainy season in Guyana hit the communities hard and this resulted in flooding. Although there are existing pumps in Region Six, the volume of water in the areas made it impossible for flooding to be averted. However, efforts were made through the Ministry of Agriculture via the ND&IB, GUYSUCO, and the Regional Democratic Council to ease flooding.

GIBRALTAR DRY-FISH: as a result of receding waters at Fyrish and Gibraltar in East Berbice, residents are now able to cash in on an abundance of fish. Here women of the village clean a large cache of Houri for a Dry-fish feast, a recipe that includes the use of coconut milk.

PNCR allegations destructive

A wide shot of the Borlam outfall area, with dry land and the cleared canals which allow for a smooth flow of receding flood waters.

The PNCR allegations that Government has not assisted are untrue, as efforts were made to help. Additionally, the PNCR has not helped the situation. Instead the recent visit by the PNCR Robert Corbin Leader has sought to inflame the situation by agitating residents, which resulted in their digging up roads that cost millions to build, Ms. Shury pointed out. Such actions by the PNCR, she said, are often dismissed as ‘a mere co-incidence or perhaps illustration of the residents frustration?’
Government has been accused by the PNCR of dragging its feet on the Project and not wanting to implement it.
Co-Chair Ms. Sahoye-Shury explained that the delays were entirely procedural and not a result of delinquency on Government’s part.
“It must be observed that you do not get these pumps to buy locally. It went to Tender Board. Tender Board had to make a decision, then an award was made. Then you had to write to the people who won the Bid to send for the pumps. These require procedures, so you must have delays. The person given the award had to order the pumps,” she said.
Responding to claims that there was sloth in the Tender Board process of awarding the contract, she noted that the National Tender Board has many contracts to award and the one for the pumps was treated as all other contracts.
“The Tender Board don’t only look at one. The Tender Board has its work to do and there are several things that go through the Tender Board. Why didn’t the PNC say the time it took for the contract to go to the Tender Board,” she said. According to the Parliamentary Secretary, much time was wasted in the preparatory process by the Committee.
These areas have been prone to flooding since establishment in the 1850s. These are villages bought by African slaves after attaining their freedom from slavery and plantation life. The areas are also very large. In the case of Fyrish/Gibraltar, there is no Neighbourhood Democratic Council there since the PNC did not participate in the last Local Government Elections. So the area is managed by a group from the community in collaboration with PPP/C representatives and Chairmanship of the Council is rotated.
Government is being blamed for a natural situation that has been in existence for years, not only under this Administration, but under the previous one as well, she said.
Another factor contributing to the areas’ constant flooding is the location. These Region Six areas are bordered by the Guyana Sugar Corporation plantation. GUYSUCO, built up the canfields and these are now higher than the villages. So during the rains, the water converges on these villages, causing flooding.
Funding for each project is allocated to the RDC, but in the case of the Linden projects, this has proven to be problematic. The two contracts for the Linden projects entailing road and drainage works were awarded, but subsequently several problems were encountered.

The temporary pump in operation at the Borlam outfall foreshore. This pump has been in operation since May 20, draining the land particularly at Fyrish and Gibraltar, at a rate of 36,000 gallons per hour.

Overview of the Victory Valley and Blue Berry Hill projects

The Victory Valley project had to be re-tendered after the Depressed Committee investigated and found that the works were not done satisfactorily.
“At Victory Valley the contract was awarded to a man who never even constructed a big building. We, the Depressed Communities Needs Committee, visited and saw the shoddy work that was being done and we called the RDC to find out what was going on. To our amazement, the contractor had no machinery or material in place when we visited him,” she said.
Following this gross negligence on the part of the RDC, the project was taken away from the contractor and re-tendered. This is again problematic because the first contractor was already paid $1.6M of the $15M contract.
The Region requested additional funds from the Committee. However, the Committee is not authorized to increase the $15M funding for any project and the Region was left to sort the issue out.
The Blue Berry Hill project also encountered several problems because the Region did not comply with the project document agreed to by the two Leaders and the Committee.
“Roads that were not in the document were being done. Region Ten has two paid engineers. We called the Region to find out what was going on. How come roads not in the document were being done? There is a road by the name of Black Moses that was in the project document and is not being done,” she said.
According to Ms. Sahoye-Shury, the RDC has undertaken to repair the Black Moses Road, she said.
Government has been severely criticized by the PNCR for the incomplete Linden projects, even though the Region’s administration of the projects has been poor. The Regional Council is predominantly made up of PNCR Councillors.
“So when people keep talking, and especially members of the Committee, and say we have a laid-back attitude about these projects, they must say things as they are, and do not give the public the wrong impression,” she urged.

The Committee’s interactions in 2004

The Committee held its last meeting in March 2004.
The PNCR is calling for a restart in the Committee’s meetings. Ms. Sahoye-Shury explained that there is no reason for the Committee to meet until the pumps would have arrived, as there is not additional work to do. Work in the four communities is ongoing, and further plans to proceed to other communities cannot be made without the sanction of the two Leaders. President Jagdeo and Mr. Corbin met last in September 2003 and Corbin has since refused to reconstitute the Constructive Engagement Process.
“If we have to await these pumps I do not intend to waste the people’s money in Guyana. I did not call a pause. The Government of Guyana did not call a pause. The PNC called the pause. It is sad and if they are not responsible enough to look after the needs of their people, then this Government is responsible enough to look after the needs of all the people in Guyana. If we were to pander to their machinations of when to pause and when not to pause, then there would be no development in Guyana. So this Government is going ahead to do its work to meet the needs and aspirations of the people of Guyana,” she said.