Dear Editor,
On January 13, 2011 the MV Kimbia left Port Georgetown for the North West District, Region One. This vessel leaves Georgetown every other Thursday at 1pm, but it is not reliable. After leaving on January 13 the vessel reached Kumaka’s main stelling at 1am on January 15, having completed a journey which normally takes 20 to 22 hours. Some of the passengers had to remain on the boat until the morning, especially those who live far.
Passengers have been travelling under some deplorable and unhygienic conditions since 1992 and earlier. In 1992 a minister of this administration during the campaign said that if the PPP won they would bring a new boat for the people of Region One. This is left to be seen for another government. The Chinese government has heavy work on their hands to build a boat for the region.
The light usually comes off at 11 pm at Mabaruma, but I asked the administration that whenever the MV Kimbia was here to let us have one hour extra; sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t. On this occasion the lights stayed until 2 am in the morning, and this was just to facilitate the passengers.
Many years ago people used to go to a transport stelling to seek employment, especially those who had a family to maintain. Now the system has changed somewhat. It appears as if the prisoners from the Georgetown prison are doing jobs such as loading the Kimbia. This may be one of the reasons why it has no precise departure time.
Some time in the early part of last year the Minister of Agriculture brought in an excavator to widen and deepen the canals in the Mabaruma Sub-Region. It worked a little but it has been resting for a few months in a canal at Tobago, which is about three miles away from Mabaruma in a south-westerly direction. The Minister mentioned that the cost of this excavator was $13M, but recently they brought in another excavator to replace the first one. I wonder if taxpayers will have to foot all these bills. We need some kind of decency in our governance. Excavator operators are well paid. An operator should know his job, and he needs no directive from inexperienced personnel.
Region One needs a prison branch here.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Hope
