President Ali led Govt to successful Reg 10 outreach

Dear Editor,

The recent two-day Cabinet outreach led by His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali across Region 10 represents a powerful demonstration of the PPP/C government’s commitment and determination to take development, decision-making and public services directly to the people across the length and breadth of Guyana. Rather than governing from their offices in Georgetown, the President and his Cabinet fanned out across Region 10 which included Linden, the Mines, the Upper Demerara Villages-Muritaro, Malali and Great Falls, 47 miles, 58 miles, Mabura, Ituni, Kwakwani and the Upper Berbice River villages.

The outreach also built on the government’s earlier Region 10 engagement led by Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, where hundreds of residents raised matters involving housing, land regularisation, infrastructure development, contracts, sport facilities, housing allocation, NIS, old age pension and social assistance among other issues.

The significance of President Ali’s visit goes beyond the physical presence of Cabinet, he outlined the next phase of development for Region 10, especially the connectivity to Northern Brazil where he emphasised on

• economic diversification
• agriculture and agro-processing
• housing and community development
• small and medium-sized businesses
• tourism
• infrastructure and transportation
• youth and women’s economic empowerment
• improved public services
• investment and job creation
• stronger connectivity between Linden, the hinterland and the wider national economy.

In Coomacka, President Ali spoke directly about transforming Linden and Region 10 into a stronger productive base, while stressing that development must be interconnected rather than treated as isolated projects and all have to work together to achieve this objective. His vision is particularly important for a region whose economy has historically been heavily associated with bauxite and mining.

One of the most significant announcements coming out of the outreach is the proposal to establish two dedicated business districts in Linden—one on Wismar shore and the other on Mackenzie shore. President Ali said the facilities are intended to bring businesses together in organised commercial spaces while providing opportunities for training, support and access to financing. Another major element of the President’s vision is the transformation of Linden into a hub for food production and agro-processing. President Ali went on to outline plans to expand poultry production, major swine production, cold-storage facilities and other value-added activities. He also pointed to financing opportunities through the Guyana Development Bank. This is particularly significant because it connects Region 10 to Guyana’s wider objective of reducing dependence on imported food while creating new economic opportunities outside the traditional mining sector.

Addressing residents of Victory Valley and surrounding areas, President Ali said that if residents believe they have already witnessed transformation in Linden, they have not yet seen the scale of transformation that lies ahead. He also highlighted substantial government spending and improvements in health, education, social protection, agriculture and infrastructure in Region 10.

According to figures presented during the outreach, government investments included more than $6.7 billion in education, over $20 billion in health, nearly $13 billion in social protection and almost $10 billion in agriculture, alongside extensive public works and housing initiatives, where over the last five years over $120 billion was expended in Region 10.

A particularly important aspect of the president’s new economic vision is the emphasis on young people and women development. The region possesses a large pool of young people with skills and ambition. What is needed is an economic environment capable of converting those skills into business ownership, employment and wealth creation. President Ali also pointed to major transportation and connectivity initiatives, including improvements to roads and broader corridors linking Linden with other parts of Guyana, the hinterland and regional markets.

The strongest political and administrative message from the outreach is the direct contact between government and the people. I witnessed how the citizens were so pleased to interact with His Excellency President Ali, his ministers, government officials and the technical staff. During the engagement, some of the issues that were raised were dealt with on the spot and the other issues will be addressed. However, two of the main concerns raised during the outreach were water and electricity, where some areas were not getting adequate water supply, and suggestions and plans were made to address the water issue and the other issue of steady power outage especially on the Wismar shore. However, the Honourable Minister Indar had publicly addressed this present issue of the present power consumption being utilised and the mechanism being put in place to satisfy the present and future projected energy consumption.^[1]

However, the constant power outage on the Wismar shore has more to do with the condition of its transmission and distribution network and that will have to be addressed. The government will be looking forward for the support of the residents on the Wismar shore in addressing this problem. Please do not allow those negative political elements who cannot help you fool or misguide you as it relates to this issue. They do not care about you, only your support for them, if they were caring, they would not have voted down the Amaila Falls Hydro project which would have supplied 165 MW of power to the grid around 2017.^[2]

I must say that all the meetings with President Ali and his Cabinet were very successful, even the last meeting held at Christiansburg with the Honourable Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who grew up in that area, and the Honourable Charles Ramson. That meeting was well attended.

Finally, let me take this opportunity to thank all our local leaders who helped to make this outreach successful. Let’s work together to build a better life for all of us. Long live His Excellency President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, Honourable Prime Minister Mark Phillips, ministers and all Guyanese. God bless Guyana.

References

1. GPL preparing for increased energy consumption – Min Indar — dpi.gov.gy ↩
2. Amaila Falls Hydropower Project now highly unlikely - Stabroek News — www.stabroeknews.com ↩