Bridging the Gap – One Nation

Jan 17, 2016 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(The following are excerpts from speeches made by H.E. Brigadier David Granger on Hinterland Development)
The four major, hinterland, regional administrative centres – Bartica, Mahdia, Mabaruma and Lethem – will shortly be upgraded to townships with their own mayors and town councils. Central government policies over the past two decades divided Guyana into a East-West divide that separated the lands west of Fort Island on the Essequibo River from those to the East. That policy has perpetuated the disparities, divergences and divisions which hinder development.
It is no secret that educational standards in many parts of the hinterland are low. Notorious newspaper photographs of students in the Potaro-Siparuni Region – at Kato, fetching wood to cook their meals or at Paramakatoi, fetching water to wash their clothes, tell their own story of maladministration and neglect. Parents, students and teachers at Kwakwani, St Ignatius and elsewhere have had to mount protests to complain about abuses.
Dropout rates for boys and girls in Primary and secondary schools in the hinterland regions are double the rates of the rest of the country. Failure rates at the National Grade Six Assessment examinations are a scandal, with the majority of children failing all four subjects. The previous regime’s recourse was to blame the victim. Claiming that hinterland children performed poorly because of “emotional problems, early adult responsibilities, learning disabilities and parenthood” which were said to be major contributing factors to children dropping out of schools.
Human safety in the Hinterland is parlous. Crime, especially banditry, contraband, smuggling, robbery under arms, narcotics-trafficking and gun-running are commonplace. The crime of trafficking in persons received scant attention until the Guyana Women’s Miners Organisation shamed the Peoples Progressive Party-Civic (PPP-C) government into acknowledging the extent of the problem. A resolution not supported by PPP-C was passed in the National Assembly demanding a Commission of inquiry into the scourge.
Hinterland infrastructure is inadequate and can be unsafe. Safe sturdy structures are necessary for present day heavy-duty vehicular traffic. The collapse of the Moco-Moco Bridge temporarily halted travel in the Rupununi. The Kumaka-San Jose Bridge became an expensive nightmare for Maruca residents.
Stellings are essential to the economies of riverain communities. Many of the stellings, built of wood decades ago, have been damaged or are in a state of disrepair. The Parika stelling on the Essequibo River, for example has become one of the busiest and most important commercial hubs in the country, but its infrastructure is inadequate for the increasing volume of daily traffic.
Isolated but potentially productive communities are heavily dependent on airstrips for services, supplies and the evacuation of medical cases. Several dozen frequently used airstrips in the hinterland have been neglected, and this has been a contributory factor to aviation accidents.
The ‘frontier conditions’ which were tolerated in the hinterland by the previous administration have led to catastrophic consequences for the citizens who live and work there and have divided the country into two – the more- and less-developed regions.
A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) administration intends to change this situation. The hinterland must no longer be regarded as ‘bush’ but as part of ‘One Nation’- Guyana. The former administration’s hostile attitudes and divisive policies impaired social cohesion, undermined our sense of solidarity and impoverished a large section of the population, alienating the hinterland regions and gradually creating ‘two countries’ instead of cementing our people into One Nation.
The APNU+AFC administration wishes to promote greater integration between the hinterland and the coastland. We promise to preserve cultural identities, to ensure social cohesion, to promote economic prosperity. This government intends to bridge the gap in the standards of living between residents of the coastland and the hinterland.
We want rapid economic convergence between these two zones. We must improve the physical infrastructure within the hinterland, where the vast majority of our indigenous people reside in order to achieve this convergence.
The Hinterland Infrastructure Extension Programme will see improved communication through better aerodromes, bridges, roads, stellings, ferries and other forms of air, land and riverine transportation. This will allow farmers’ better access to markets and all residents to enjoy a better life.
Public services must be extended to all corners of our country. Public services must promote vibrant and thriving communities. The Government Information Agency, the National Communications Network and the National Radio Service and the Newspapers must reach every single community.
Citizens, whether they live on the coastland or in the hinterland, in town or village, or whether they are poor or rich, should have access to good health care. The primary health-care system was meant to promote equity and social justice. Primary health care should be seen as an initiative to make health services more accessible. It should be seen as an investment in human development that avoids expensive transportation or expensive medical treatment at the secondary and tertiary stages.
The negligent and absent-minded approach to the way the hinterland must be developed is now a thing of the past and Guyanese, East and West of the Essequibo, can look forward to a better life.

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