A young entrepreneur, an IT technician and a pensioner are contesting to be elected as the next representative of the 5th Constituency of the Georgetown municipality.
This area encompasses Sophia/Liliendaal North & South, Pattensen/Turkeyen North & South Turkeyen Central & Sophia/Pattensen Central.
The candidates are Akeem Peter, of APNU+AFC; Bryan Mackintosh, of Team Benschop for Mayor; and Ramdyal Persaud, of the PPP/C.
For Peter and Mackintosh, their chances of being elected as a councillor rest entirely on the constituency vote, while Persaud has a better chance due to the fact that he is also listed on the PPP/C’s proportional representation list.
At 24, Peter is known in Sophia for working as a community developer over the past seven years. He said he is ready to use the experience and knowledge he has gained to represent and serve his constituency in helping to realise the developments that residents are looking for.
Peter, who owns the AWCP Group of Companies, which is involved in a range of services spanning marketing, construction, energy and agriculture, said the issues of poor drainage and irrigation, inadequate street lights, bad roads and regulation of Sophia’s housing lands have been chief among the concerns of residents within his constituency.
As a result, he is resolved to address their issues and improve the human resources in his constituency.
Peter said he is very enthusiastic about youth development and, therefore, he would work to create an environment for youth to gain access to education, sports, culture, heritage, history, youth leadership and social cohesion. He said he would work to ensure that there is 50% of youth involved in any contract awarded within the constituency for works in order for youth to gain employment. As a part of his job creation programme, he will also look at how innovation and entrepreneurship can aid persons in earning an income.
Peter added that he thinks security services for public buildings should be awarded to persons within the community. He noted that if such is done, it would be one way for creating jobs.
Peter also plans to work with residents within constituencies for them to be empowered. “We must first seek to build our self… if all things are new and our people are not reflective of the progress and development, as leaders of our community we not have succeed,” he said, while adding that residents must be able to shepherd development.
He also pointed out that before programmes and initiatives are launched, consultations should be held with leaders of the different communities to have a fair understanding of what is needed.
Mackintosh, 50, of Area Q, Turkeyen, said he has decided to campaign as an individual candidate for Team Benschop for Mayor since he saw the opportunity to have concerns of his constituency addressed.
Mackintosh, who is an IT Technician and a social activist, pointed out that for too long issues such as poor drainage, lack of security and underdeveloped grounds have been neglected.
However, he said working with the Team Benschop for Mayor Campaign, he believes that the concerns would be addressed once he is elected into office.
He stated that he would work for drains to be cleaned and maintained, work to see the installation of LED street lights and work for communities to have green spaces with infrastructure.
Mackintosh added that he would push for regular fogging and spraying exercises to be carried out within the communities. He noted that because of the lack of such activities and neglected drains, mosquitoes often breed and carry diseases. He said that with the Zika virus spreading, fogging and spraying along with clean drains are needed.
He also said that he doesn’t expect to see changes overnight but he would be looking at ensuring that City Hall is transparent and accountable. He added that if elected, he would like to see residents and city councils engaging in plans for development of communities. “We want to build a community where [City Council] is a part of you and you are a part of [City Council] so we can rebuild Georgetown and Guyana,” he said.
Meanwhile, Persaud, a pensioner and former guard, said his priority is security. “People want to feel safe in their communities,” he noted, before adding that he would like to ensure streets are enhanced with street lights and patrols. He said that he would also like to see flooding reduced in the area as well and as a result he would be pushing for drains to be cleaned and de-silted regularly.
Persaud also said that he would like to see the community groups provided with infrastructure that would give the community a recreational space to host events. He noted that the ground closest to the constituency is at Ogle.
He added that he would work to create voluntary groups to aid in clean up campaigns to ensure that the communities are clean and safe from diseases.
Persaud was confident that he is aware of his constituency’s needs and pledged that once he gets into office he would work with everyone to seek the best possible solution to the issues in the area. He stated that in order for development to take place, cooperation is needed. (David Papannah)
