Guyana’s last frontier…the Rupununi

Jan 25, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The Rupununi – properly called the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region – is the largest Region in Guyana and has a size of about 58,000 km². It is bigger than Costa Rica and six times the size of Puerto Rico. Yet, because of the policies of the People’s Progressive Party Civic Administration, the Region remains under-developed.
The Region has over 80 communities, villages and satellite settlements with a population of about 25,000 persons. The main settlements are Annai, Lethem and Aishalton and the main ethnic groups are the Makushi in the north, Wapishana in the south and Wai-Wai in ‘the deep south.’ The Region has tremendous, untapped potential for the development of agriculture and agro-processing, energy-generation, forestry, mining, trade and eco-tourism. Owing to backward governmental administration at both regional and central levels, however, this potential remains unexploited.
Lethem, the seat of the Regional Democratic Council and the centre of administration, has several amenities and public utilities – aerodrome; banks; churches; government offices; immigration office; magistrate’s court; police station; schools; hospital; hotels; electrical power station; fuel stations; water supply; groceries and  hardware and general supply stores. Government policy, sadly, prevents the ‘settlement’ from becoming a town although it certainly needs to have its own mayor and municipal council.
The vital Lethem-Linden highway, owing to the government’s inaction, degenerates into a near-impassible track in rainy weather; old wooden bridges sometimes collapse; savannah fires and floods could inhibit travel.  Transportation costs rise and, as a result, push the cost of living beyond the means of most households. The lack of a network of reliable, paved roads and concrete bridges is a major obstacle to development.
Education of the young is essential, yet, boys and girls perform at a level lower than children in other regions at the National Grade Six Assessment examinations and tend to drop out of a primary and secondary schools. Some of those who remain are unlikely to be functionally literate or numerate. This trend must be reversed by ensuring that every child has a place in school and completes his or her primary education. The Region’s four secondary schools ¯at Annai, Aishalton, Sand Creek and St. Ignatius ¯ do produce scores of graduates every year but many of them are unable to find satisfactory employment.
The major source of employment, apart from Government employment as nurses, officials, policemen, soldiers and teachers and a few businessmen, is in the construction sector. Some young residents do find jobs here, but the majority of construction workers are brought from Georgetown or Boa Vista. Jobs are the basis of a sound economy and are essential for economic growth. Too many young adults still seek waged labour instead of engaging in private enterprise. There is need to counter this trend by establishing a Rupununi Agriculture Institute and a Rupununi Technical Institute to provide young people with life skills and careers and to give them a reason to remain in the Region.
The Moco-Moco hydroelectrical power scheme, opened in 1999, was shut down after being damaged by a landslide in 2003. The Government, rather than repair the scheme and restore the service, unwisely abandoned the plant entirely leaving Lethem and its environs at the mercy of expensive, diesel-generated electricity.
The Unserved Areas Hinterland Development Project, funded by the IDB, was a start to providing electrical energy to isolated communities and households, but the installation of household solar panels has not been a success. There have been widespread failures in panels or switchgear or wiring. Schools and health centres still require sources of more reliable power and this will call for a substantial increase in both capital and recurrent budgets and technical training.
As climate change impacts on the hinterland, each community needs to take more responsibility for providing itself with water in possibly prolonged dry seasons. This requires not only capital expenditure but also training in water management and maintenance of pumps and pipes. Villages need to store water for livestock, fish and other wildlife in the dry season and restocking in the long rainy season.
The President, only on 14th March 2006 as general and regional elections approached, hastily assented to the Amerindian Act. This sought to empower indigenous people to preserve their rights to their land and their way of life among other things but communities, under this Act, have complained about its inadequacy and demanded revisions. Many communities are not satisfied with the lands given to them. Large tracts of land have been given out as mining and forestry concessions. APNU promises to sit down with communities and have them identify the lands that they need and pledge to settle these issues once and for all.
Health, as with education, is below the national average. The low level of primary health care is related to the shortage of medical staff within communities. Rupununi residents, as in other parts of the hinterland, need a higher level of preventative health education, including nutrition and ante- and post-natal care. The so-called ‘state-of-the-art’ Regional Hospital at Lethem is inadequate to serve the needs of the region and has been described as little more than “a glorified health centre.”
The Rupununi might be Guyana’s southernmost frontier but, far from being a failed region, is a zone of potential and promise. It needs good governance. An APNU administration will create the conditions for a ‘good life’ for all, by protecting residents of this great region from the abuse of their rights and providing them with a higher quality of life.

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