By Cathy Richards
Almost two months after the end of a 35-day protest, which had resulted in the total shutdown of Linden and the burning of several buildings, several entities are struggling to get back on their feet, while others wend their way back to normalcy, but not without challenges.
Between July 18 and August 12, several buildings were burnt putting a halt to business operations. Des-troyed were the Linmine Office complex which housed at least ten offices, including the Guyana Revenue Autho-rity (GRA) Linden branch, Linden Care Foundation (LCF), LCF’s Soup Kitchen, the Linden Electricity Company Inc (LECI), and the Linden Branch of the Uni-versity of Guyana’s Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE); the Linmine Secretariat, which included its security department; LECI cashier; Linseed (a relatively new organisation that catered for the differently abled; and the Linden Legal Aid Centre among other entities that leased or rented office space. Two huts, which were at the eastern end of the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge, were burnt as well. One served as the toll booth, while the other housed the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) Linden branch.
The Regional Agriculture building, which housed the National Agricultural Research Institute Linden centre, the One Mile Primary School, Vivienne Parris Health Centre and the Linden Salvation Council Complex were all also destroyed during the period.
Linden CareFoundation
LCF, a non-government, non-profit organisation which offers care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as other health related services is now operating from a section of the Con-sumers’ Goods Complex. This is in the heart of the town and shares space with a number of business entities all of whom utilize the same lavatory.
“We have absolutely no privacy. This place is a furnace. The place stinks and we are not doing well,” said a distraught Hazel Maxwell-Benn the organisation’s Managing Director. She condemned the destruction of the LCF offices, which were located in the Linmine Office Complex, saying that it was a clear demonstration that the community did not care.
“The community didn’t care about the clients, the children we serve nor did they care about us,” Maxwell-Benn said. While most of the LCF’s office equipment, furnishing and other items were saved from the fire, these things were subsequently looted.
When Stabroek News visited LCF’s new temporary location, a stench consumed the room. “This is what we have to endure all day, every day and we are supposed to be an organisation that takes health care as priority,” said senior staff Naomi Cox-David. Just outside the building is the Mackenzie Municipal Market, which has a garbage disposal facility at the front.
“It is a disgrace. That place is never clean and we have to inhale the stench of that all the time,” said another staff member.
In the cramped physical environment, files are everywhere: stuck in boxes and in defaced, borrowed filing cabinets, secured with padlocks.
The staff share two computers, while there is a third for the administration. Maxwell-Benn has no fixed place to sit and a similar situation faces her Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and other key staff.
The Voluntary Testing and Counselling office is the only enclosed room.
A small pharmacy; a glass case with a few bottles of beverages and a few packets of biscuits welcome visitors at the entrance. LCF had depended heavily on proceeds from its canteen and pharmacy for sustainability. The bulk of its funding comes from the USAID/GHARP2 project, but that funding cycle ended last month.
Maxwell-Benn said they have received a few pledges for the reconstruction of the building but hope corporate Guyana will step in to assist with furnishings. They are hoping to rebuild on the very spot where the building once stood.
Guyana Revenue Authority
According to the Linden Branch Manager, who asked that her name not be published, a ray of hope hovers over the GRA branch office.
Today it occupies a section of the E and A Health and Wellness Centre at Co-op Crescent, Mackenzie. The wellness centre closed its doors following the protest.
The GRA Branch Manager said the main hindrance to being fully operational is the fact that there is no access to the computer network system as yet. “We are providing all the services to our taxpayers, but it is being done at a much slower pace than usual,“ she said; service provision resumed on September 10.
Between July 18 and September 10, she had frequent strategizing meetings with workers. “Here we want to thank those kind businessmen and persons who opened their doors to us so we could have met regularly,“ she said.
“The first day, to my surprise, we saw about 15 taxpayers. It seemed like people were eager to see us back in operation.” However the flow of traffic has since reduced because persons have realized that they have to wait a much longer period to get business done, owing to the absence of the computer network system. “What we have been doing and will continue, is to offer advisory services to our taxpayers and it would be their choice to leave their documents with us or go to the head office in Georgetown to try to get their business done faster.” The manager is optimistic that they would be fully operational soon.
Staff, on the other hand, have expressed a high level of discomfort with the present work environment. Currently, the rented space is still under renovations. “The smell of the paint is the thing that is killing us.” explained one staff member. He said they were push to saturation point on Wednes-day when the manager advised that persons take their annual leave if they can’t bear the smell. “We love what we do. We want to work. All we need is for the door to be left open so we can breathe free until we cross this hurdle,“ appealed another staff member.
Others supported this stating that they have not shown a single sign of unwillingness to work, despite the noisy disturbance of the hammering and sawing and the smell of paint. “All we need is her cooperation too,“ said another staffer.
Linden Salvation Council
Chairman of the Linden Salvation Council Phillip Bynoe says he is dreaming out aloud and big as the council is actively considering reconstruction. Three buildings belonging to the LSC were destroyed during the protest. One building housed the meeting place of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, the Region 10 Agriculture and Forest Producers Association (RAFPA) and the other a soup kitchen and Hall.
Bynoe said that should a decision be taken to reconstruct, it will be a building which caters for a half-way home for vulnerable women and children, an indoor sports facility and a community hall.
“We did in-depth diligent investigations and have positively identified exactly the persons who were responsible for the burning of the building of the LSC,“ Bynoe stated. But, according to him, members of the organisation have taken a decision not to press charges. “We even know of several houses where things [that were looted] from the buildings are, but we will leave it alone,“ added Bynoe.
He explained that they have considered the fact that during protests of that nature, leaders lose control because foreign elements infiltrate with their own agendas.
Efforts to contact the Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saint proved futile. Bynoe said there are some issues to be worked out with the religious group, which was renting the space prior to its destruction.
Chairman of the RAFPA James Sinclair said while they are currently operating out of the home of one of their members, they are actively pursuing a more appropriate building. He said they have had the fullest cooperation of the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion, which assisted in replacing key records including tags. To date, their operations are manual and they are working on re-computerizing soon.
Contacted, Chief Execu-tive Officer of the Linmine Secretariat Horace James said that there was not much to tell. “Nothing newsworthy right now,” he said. However, he confirmed that the LECI and Linmine Security are working from two locations, with the major operations of LECI being at the old Aluminium Plant at Speight-land, Mackenzie, while some other office operations are at the Watooka Guest House.
Stabroek News understands that the reconstruction of the Vivienne Parris Health Centre which is currently operating from a regional building in Crabwood Street, Mackenzie is under consideration at the moment.
A committee under the name “Rebuilding our Future” is moving apace with plans for the reconstruction of the One Mile Primary School. To date, over $10 million in cash, pledges and materials have been given to the committee. Work commenced last week Saturday, when the Linden Fund USA and Charles Ceres handed over a sum of cash.
