THERE SHOULD BE A PROCESS OF GRADUATION TO TOWNSHIP STATUS

Apr 30, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Many decades ago at one of the Bartica Regattas, a well-known media consultant was interviewed by Clem David, a radio announcer with the State-owned radio station. That media consultant who was in the employ of the then PNC government told Clem David that Bartica would within ten years become the next capital of Guyana.
Clem David was so delighted by this announcement that he was beside himself with excitement. He kept on asking the media consultant to repeat what he had just said: that Bartica would become the new capital of Guyana.
That was during the period when the then PNC government was opening up Guyana’s interior to development and Bartica was seen as an important gateway to the interior. There were great expectations for Bartica, but these never materialized.
The ten years passed and Bartica never became the new capital of Guyana. Indeed, despite being one of the main gateways to Guyana’s interior riches, Bartica remained in a state of neglect under the PNC.
It was ironically under the PPPC – a party that has never promised to make Bartica the capital of anywhere – that Bartica became a thriving riverain community. Today there are astounding buildings in the community. There are banks, there are businesses, there are schools, there are hospitals etc. Bartica has developed under the PPPC.
The PPPC has plans to make Bartica into a secondary town, quite unlike APNU which now wants to make the area a full-fledged town and even more so, the capital of Region 8.
Administrative Regions are part of the local government system. Administrative Regions have Administrative Centres, not capitals. Bartica is already an administrative centre.  But I suppose that when APNU+AFC promises that Bartica will be made into the capital of Region 8, it means that it will be the main district within that Region. When APNU+AFC says that Bartica will be made into a town, it means that the area will have its own municipality.
In some ways this is a way of APNU+AFC indirectly paying a compliment to the PPPC’s governance in Guyana. Instead of being a neglected riverain community, Bartica has developed to such an extent under the PPPC that within one year of APNU+AFC coming to power they would be in a position to designate Bartica as a town.
But again I wish to argue that this is again another example of APNU+AFC placing the cart before the horse. Under the system of local government that we have, towns are administered by municipalities. But one does not go about establishing a municipality merely to make a community a town.
Having a municipality does not make a community a town. For a community to become a town, a municipality is not a precondition. There are other things which must be in place before a community can be designated a town, and once these things are in place, then the municipality can be established.
What are these things? Firstly the community must have designated borders. This will allow for the area to be demarcated as a town. Towns have to have clearly demarcated borders.
Secondly, there must be a critical mass of people. A town has to be larger than a village but smaller than a city. While there can be small towns, the area itself would have had to have been developed in such a manner that in relation to other nearby communities, it has a superior critical mass of residents in order for it to be qualified as a town. Also, the surrounding communities must have some transport links and dependence to the community that is being designated a town.
Thirdly, there must be designated commercial and industrial zones within the area being designated a town. You cannot have a town without one or the other. Bartica already has a commercial zone and some small industrial activity, but there is a need for proper zoning before Bartica can qualify as a town.
Fourthly, there must be certain forms of infrastructure in place such as markets, water, electricity, hospitals, roads and bridges befitting a town. In saying that within one year it will make Bartica a town, APNU+AFC is admitting that these things are already in place, and all it is doing is hosting a ceremony to the progress that Bartica has enjoyed under the PPPC.
Fifthly, there is a need to establish an adequate revenue base. This would entail doing an inventory of the properties in the community to ensure that they can yield sufficient revenues from taxes in order to sustain a municipality. It is doubtful whether this can take place in one year.
Finally, it is always advisable for a community to graduate to township status by first being designated a secondary town and then later a full-fledged town.
The APNU+AFC coalition is trying to woo votes from Bartica. It need not worry. It will take Bartica and Region 8. It may however be overreaching by promising township within one year to Bartica.

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