Decentralisation and regional empowerment (Part 2)

Jun 12, 2016 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By Hon. Ronald Bulkan,
Minister of Communities

(Address to the residents of the Potaro-Siparuni Region on Wednesday May 25, 2016)
Every day, the administration is mindful that your schools need better equipment and more staff. Our

children are our future. The President knows this. To quote His Excellency, “Education is the gateway to greater opportunities. It is the means to a more equal society. It is a pathway towards improved well-being. It offers an escape from poverty.” My friends, can we dispute that education is the key to a better life? No!
That is why the administration is committed to improving the schools across this region and throughout our country.
In the last general and regional elections held on May 11, 2015, Guyanese decisively sent the message that they want a break from the past. Guyanese chose the politics of inclusion over the politics of division. Guyanese chose to elect into office a new administration. An administration which promised transparency, accountability, democracy and regional autonomy.
Autonomy means that our regions must be managed from within the regions. This is what we promised when we were in opposition, and this is the strategic direction in which we are heading.
The APNU+AFC administration is committed to the decentralization of decision making from central government to regional administrators. Guyana is a large and diverse country, our various regions have a variety of human and natural resources. Our various regions each have diverse geographic features. Given these facts, how can one expect that our country could be governed from an office in Georgetown? It is only logical, therefore, that each region be given the power and authority to chart their own courses and plan their own destinies.
This is not a new idea; this policy is enshrined in our laws and in our Constitution.
In keeping with that constitutional mandate and considering that the administration is committed to the rule of law, your government will pursue the strategic vision of decentralisation and regional empowerment.
His Excellency President Granger has charged each region with developing and fashioning a plan for their own development. This plan will take into account the current economic conditions of the regions, the regions’ available natural resources, the regions’ available human resources, and the needs of the regions’ residents. This plan is called the Plan of Action for Regional Development or PARD.
As the word PARD suggests, central government will partner with regional administrators to develop each region to its full potential, but make no mistake, regional government not central government will take the lead in this endeavour, within the strategic direction being taken by central government. This is the correct approach to governance in Guyana. It is the only way to develop our country. In the words of the President, “Strong regions will lead to a strong country.”
There are other advantages to the regions themselves charting their own courses. Empowering each region will result in citizens taking ownership of their own futures. Empowering regional administrators will result in each citizen taking pride in the region in which they live. Guyanese will again be proud to be Guyanese as we work together to make our country great no matter which region we live in.
This is the reason why the administration has announced that each region must have its own flag, of those flags we will all be proud.
On a related note, we are all aware that Guyanese usually refer to their regions by a number instead of by their names. Residents of Potaro-Siparuni, it is clear that the reason for this is that the names of the regions are too long and often difficult to remember. However, how can anyone form an emotional bond with a number?
We need to call our regions by their names. The administration therefore, has taken a decision to send teams into the regions to consult with residents and administrators regarding the flags as well as the simplification of the name of each region. Ladies and gentlemen, the soon to be new names and flags will result in persons taking greater ownership and pride in their own regions.
Making Mahdia a township is part and parcel of the strategic direction of this administration that each region must have a capital town which will provide all essential governmental services such as driver’s licences, passports, NIS, pensions, GRA services, disability payments, land titling, business registration, marriage certificates, and so on.
President Granger has said that, “Guyana’s new economic geography will emphasise the centrality of capital towns.” His Excellency has said that, “the benefits of capital towns in rural hinterland regions will become evident through the generation of rural, non-farm employment. Poorer folk who always seem to predominate in the rural and hinterland regions may find employment easier in nearby capital towns.”
In the President’s message to the National Assembly, last Tuesday, he emphasized, “We will create stronger regions administered by capital towns in order to develop hinterland and rural communities more rapidly.” He said also, “Three new capital towns – at Bartica, Mabaruma and Lethem – have already been created. A fourth will follow at Mahdia. Every region, in the end will be administered and directed by a capital town.”
I close by wishing you once again a happy 50th anniversary. Let us work together to develop our country from strength to strength. Let us work together to create a better life for ourselves and our children. Let us put aside our petty disagreements and embrace our neighbours. We have a future to build. Let us get on with the work at hand.
Happy Independence.

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