Dear Editor,
I have been prompted to express my frustration about a situation which has been affecting the residents of Region 8, North Pakaraimas. As a resident of the region and on behalf of other concerned residents, I wish to appeal to the government for their intervention in this situation.
Let me first begin by reiterating a known fact about the mode of transportation in my region. Due to its geographical location, the main means of transport remains the use of aircraft which is very costly. Over the past decade or so there has been some progress to connect the communities by road, which has in some way reduced the cost of transportation of goods in the region. However, this has become difficult in recent times.
I wish to refer more specifically to the deplorable state of the roads between Tuseneng, Paramakatoi and Kato which link the Pakaraimas to North Rupununi. This route is one which is frequently used by residents of these communities to transport goods. Over the past year, the road has not received any maintenance or upgrading, causing much frustration and distress to the business people and residents. In fact, I cannot recall the last time I have witnessed this particular section of the road in such a terrible condition. It now takes almost one day to get to Paramakatoi from Tuseneng instead of two hours. To make matters worse, we are experiencing heavy rainfall which has made the roads even more difficult to traverse.
It is my opinion that the Regional Democratic Council which has the mandate to oversee matters such as infrastructure in the region is not effectively carrying out its functions. With that said, there is a growing concern among the people in the region about the manner in which the Regional Executive Officer has been executing his duties.
In the past, one would see the Regional Executive Officer making trips to and from villages on an ATV to acquire a firsthand knowledge of the condition of the roads. This resulted in some amount of works being done on the roads. However, the present REO is known to be spending most of his time on a chartered aircraft to visit some communities.
As I mentioned before, the cost of travel by air is very expensive. In this regard, the residents find it very disturbing that the REO can afford to travel regularly by airplane but cannot take some time to travel by road to have a better appreciation of the unacceptable conditions of our roads. This leaves us to conclude that the taxpayers’ money is being spent for the wrong reasons while putting the best interest of the people on the back-burner.
It is my understanding that during the elections campaign in 2015 there was emphasis placed on developing the hinterland communities through infrastructure. There has been a recent focus on increasing entrepreneurial skills and creating independent and sustainable economies by taking advantage of our agricultural endowment.
This initiative is something which I welcome, but at this point having proper infrastructure is a necessity and not a luxury. Region 8 has the potential to become a vibrant agricultural hub, but without proper roads we will be left to rot with our produce.
On that note, on behalf of my fellow residents I wish to seek the government’s intervention to ensure that our roads are fixed. Most importantly, we are requesting that an evaluation be done to assess the functioning of the Regional Executive Officer.
I believe that with the right leadership and sensible implementation of projects that my region can move ahead and contribute in a substantial way to the development of this country ‒ Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Darlene De- Andrade
