AG meets with Victoria Villagers to address concerns

Nov 28, 2017 News

Hon. Basil Williams in Victoria Village on Sunday

On Sunday, Attorney General (AG), Basil Williams held a meeting at the Victoria Primary School, East Coast Demerara. The AG was invited by the Victoria #1 Group and the Victoria Youth Group. The meeting was to provide a forum for villagers to voice their concerns about various issues that were affecting them.
At the meeting, Williams spoke about plans to develop villages across Guyana. This government, he said, is encouraging the development and empowerment of youths across Guyana as well. On the oil and gas discovery, Williams urged villagers to encourage their children to invest in education in oil and gas related fields.
He explained that there will be need for chemists, biologists among other personnel. He noted that Guyanese should be the ones benefitting from the oil and gas discovery and that we need to start making the right steps to capitalise from this opportunity.
Williams said that President, David Granger wants a green state and Victoria has a history of being productive, especially as it relates to crop production. The President, he said, also wants to capitalise on the usage of solar energy and the government is also encouraging agro-processing. Agro-processing is refers to the manufacturing of raw agriculture materials into different products.
After the AG’s address, one villager complained that he has been tendering for contracts for a number of years and he has never been successful. He also said that there is a communication problem between different political parties and the public. He suggested that the problem be solved “with more rigid correspondence.”
Williams explained to the concerned villager that tender contracts have very strict requirements and that persons need to know these before applying. He also informed them that the government has a training programme for persons that are interested in tendering contracts.
Another villager commended the work of the APNU/AFC government. She said that the previous government had promised to fashion the community centre to accommodate an educational and recreational facility.
These promises, she said, were never met. She believes it was because the community was not a PPP supporter in elections. She also said that it is not just the young persons in the community that need development. She believes that the older folks need recreational centres as much as the youths. The AG acknowledged her concerns and said that it was great insight.
Some of the other issues the villagers talked about were the importance of agriculture and the need for factories where young people can manufacture items and later market their produce; assisting farmers to acquire land; unemployment; the poor state of the Belfield Road and the unfulfilled promise of an IT Hub in the village.
In response to the IT Hub, Williams told the villagers that Cathy Hughes is the Minister of Telecommunications to contact in relation to that and she could better explain that issue.
He also reminded villagers that Local Government Elections would be next year. He encouraged them to take the necessary precautions to prepare for the elections.
The meeting concluded with the AG thanking the villagers for a “healthy interactive session” and a promised that Williams would revisit the community to see the Belfield Road with which the villagers had an issue.

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