Development of Leguan without political strings

Aug 27, 2017 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

By Imran Khan, Director of Public Information
It was way back in the 1980’s and I was only a young boy at the time, but I remember the day

Imran Khan, Director of Public Information

well – one does not readily relinquish certain memories. It was a blustery Saturday morning during the August school holidays. My grandfather was going to make a business trip to the ‘big island’ in the ‘big river’, and he took along a cousin and I on what was then the biggest adventure of our young lives.
We left our home in the village of Vergenoegen and headed to Parika, East Bank Essequibo where we boarded the early morning ferry to the sprawling island of Leguan. For years we had yearned to visit that large island. In the afternoons, us boys, after seawall cricket was wrapped up, would sit on the Vergenoegen foreshore and gaze in wonder at this green expanse of land sitting majestically in the grand Essequibo River. As the sun set, it would fade into the darkness with only the flicker of a few lamps visible until it emerged again at morning light.
The tales of the ‘big island’ were tall and engrossing. Men from our village would speak of the thrills of catching bundaree crabs at Dauntless, Leguan’s outermost point where the Atlantic Ocean waters mingle with the Essequibo flow. Stories of the large size and quantity of crabs fascinated us boys. Through the years, Leguan remained embedded in our minds as a place of mystery and appeal. We all longed to visit. We had even contemplated swimming across the river at low tide, but good sense prevailed. The Essequibo River is rough.
And so, on this particular Saturday morning, Uncle Hassan and his two grandsons were on our way. On arrival, however, the lustre and mystique of the island diminished somewhat. Our hosts met us at the stelling with a muddy tractor, our mode of transportation for the day visit. The tractor made practical sense in view of the bad condition of the roads which were more akin to dams. There were craters the size of small houses, and substantial breakages/holes which the tractor operator manoeuvred around most skillfully.

30 YEARS OF NEGLECT
In 2016 it was almost 30 years since my first visit when I had encountered all those challenging conditions of life and living in Leguan. Whatever the reason(s) for the neglect of this charming rural community, the PPP government, from 1992 and throughout the ensuing 23 years, did little to improve living conditions for the residents. They did patch bits and pieces of road over the last two decades – a mile here, two miles there, in total three or four bits on an island with about 17 miles of road.
Residents had felt neglected for many, many years by the absence of proper infrastructure. They complained about shoddy and sub-standard road work that deteriorated quickly. This badly affected their ability to work efficiently, and their children to travel to school without mishap.
In 2016 the metamorphosis of the island began. A massive road surfacing project got underway utilizing the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s mobile asphalt plant. By the end of the year with round-the-clock work, about 50% of the former loam and mud roads were completely paved to bring relief to years of suffering. The road project continued this year and will not end until all roads are upgraded.
With new roads, taxi drivers can now drive around without fear of undue wear and tear on their vehicles; schoolchildren can ride comfortably to school on their bicycles, and farmers can now move with ease to and from their farms and to transport their produce to the Enterprise stelling destined for the bustling Parika Market, the West Coast Demerara, Georgetown and East Coast Demerara markets as well.

TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to the obvious benefits, asphalted roads in Leguan now allow the island to develop tourism opportunities that will create related jobs and additional economic activities. Guyanese and overseas visitors would be more inclined to visit. The improvement of transportation services will also benefit restaurants, bars and shops even across the river. Demand for cash crops is likely to increase as the demand for indigenous cooked and processed foods picks up alongside arrival of more visitors.

DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT POLITICAL STRINGS
There is also a political dimension to this development which cannot be ignored. It is general knowledge that the people of Leguan voted resoundingly for the PPP in the 2015 General and Regional Elections. There were eight polling stations on the island, each one recording landslide numbers for the PPP as has been the pattern since before Independence.
This situation, as with the rest of Guyana, is of little consequence when it comes to people development in this great land of ours. Alongside the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, national programmes designed by the Ministries of Public Telecommunications, Public Health, Education, Sports and Culture, along with the STEM programme and other youth initiatives will reach Leguan shortly.
Leguan is no longer being neglected, as our Coalition Government has vowed that our people must never again be persecuted through neglect of services and infrastructure because of how they choose to vote. The thrust of the AFC and our partners in the Coalition Government is “Development without political strings”. We all embrace a mindset that national development is for every citizen, not some. National development will not be tied to political support.
A new day is upon us, and it has been 30 years or so in the making. I look forward to visiting Leguan again to see with mine own eyes how far along the island has come.

Pix – Imran Khan