Ten- point development plan for Guyana’s Frontier Communities

Mar 04, 2018 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(This Editorial is an excerpt from an address by H.E. David Granger, at Kaikan Village, Cuyuni- Mazaruni Region on February 21, 2018)
Frontier communities are not solitary outposts. Frontier communities are integral to national defence, national development and national cohesion and unity.
Frontier communities are guardians of Guyana’s territorial integrity and national security. They are our first line of defence against any attempt at incursions and invasions. They are the eyes and ears which can alert our defence and police forces about actions which threaten national defence and public security.
Frontier communities protect our natural patrimony – our environment, fauna, flora and our minerals – from poachers and illegal loggers and miners.
Frontier communities must safeguard our environment. It is an economic resource that belong and should benefit all Guyanese and for all generations.
Frontier communities can play a pivotal role in boosting economic development by incubating trade and contacts with neighbouring countries, help to promote economic growth and generate personal wealth.
Frontier communities safeguard public health. Communicable, vector-borne diseases know no borders. Frontier communities must help to protect our citizens the threats of transnational diseases.
The provision of public services is a vehicle for enhancing the quality of life of frontier communities. It is a means of reducing the isolation felt and experienced by these villages. Central, regional and local government can combine along the lines of a ten- point plan for frontier villages:

• Citizenship: Citizenship entitles every Guyanese to a share in the country’s patrimony, the rights accorded under our Constitution, access to public services and participation in national decision-making.
Citizenship commences with registration of births and continues with the issuance of identification cards, passports and, eventually, death certificates. One of the first acts of my presidency was the establishment of a Ministry of Citizenship.
Many births in frontier communities remain unregistered because of the long distances and high costs associated with registration. Every resident in a frontier community must to be registered and provided with a birth certificate and, eventually, a national identification card and passport.

• Economy: Frontier Communities have the potential to produce food on a commercial scale. Food competitiveness in frontier regions, however, is constrained by high cost of transport and rate of spoilage owing to the distance from the farm to the market. Food production and food manufacturing can generate employment and reduce the need for migration.
Frontier villages, by adding value to their food production through agro-processing, will enhance their competitiveness and boost their village economies. Your government will be encouraging initiatives to boost agro-processing in frontier villages.

• Education: Education is the basis for increased economic opportunities for our children. Education is a means out of poverty. Education equips students with the knowledge, skills and values needed to become productive citizens and contribute to their well-being, that of their families and their communities.
Kaikan, like all other frontier villages, must ensure that every child attends school and completes his or her education. Your government will promote the objective of ‘every-child-in-school’, by supporting the provision of materials, uniforms and transportation.

• Human safety: Frontier villages must become safer communities. Frontier villages need protection against the threats of contraband smuggling, drug-, guns- and people-trafficking and the invasions by ‘sindicatos’ and armed criminal gangs. Central, regional and local administrations must work with residents to help improve the security of frontier villages.

• Communications: Information technology will close the gaps of distance between frontier villages and the rest of the country. ICT will allow for improved communication and the enhancement of services to frontier villages.
Government will ensure that all frontier communities are connected and enjoy improved communication and telecommunication services.

• National defence: Frontier villages will be protected against external threats, including from criminal gangs which operate from bases outside of our territory.
Residents of Kaikan are encouraged to join the People’s Militia so as to help secure our borders and our territory, respond to emergencies and retard attacks by roving armed criminal syndicates.
Venezuela, as you are aware, has a claim against our territory for 52 years. Guyana, in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1966, has taken had asked the Secretary General of the United Nations to choose a means of peaceful settlement. It is Guyana’s considered position that the ‘good office’ process, and all other peaceful measures except resort to the court, had been exhausted.
The UN Secretary General has chosen the International Court of Justice as the means to solve the controversy which has developed because of Venezuela’s claim. Guyana looks forward to a successful outcome of this process for Guyana.

• Public health: Frontier villages, as ports and points of entry and exit, are prone to the spread transnational diseases. Public health and port health services will be enhanced, at frontier villages, so as to prevent the spread of communicable, vector-borne diseases – such as dengue, chikungunya, malaria and zika – across our frontiers.

• Public infrastructure: The infrastructure, particularly transportation infrastructure – aerodrome, bridges, roads, stellings and landings will be progressively improved, within frontier villages so as to ensure the efficient movement of goods, services and people.
Infrastructure development will help to reduce inequalities and improve trade across regions and between the hinterland and the coastland.

• Social cohesion: Guyana’s frontier villages are predominantly populated by persons of indigenous descent. Guyana has nine indigenous nations, each with its own language. Guyana indigenous peoples have rich cultural customs and traditions.

The culture, including language, of our indigenous peoples must be preserved. Greater use of indigenous languages on the Regional Public Broadcasting Service (RPBS) radio stations and within our schools must be promoted. We will ensure a system of inclusivity, one that respects differences and celebrates our diversity.

• Social protection: The provision of social protection services is a means of safeguarding our vulnerable population, including the elderly, the disabled and those experiencing difficulties. Pensioners should not have to travel long distances at great expense to uplift their pensions.
The Regional Administration must cooperate with the village administration to ensure that residents entitled to pensions and social assistance is accessible within their communities

This ten-point village improvement plan for our frontier villages aims at ensuring access to public services in the areas of citizenship, registration and immigration, education, human safety, information communication technology, national defence, public health, public infrastructure, social cohesion and social protection.
The plan aims, also, at encouraging increased employment and food security through agro-processing.

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