Ministers’ Berbice outreach greeted by protests-GWI, infrastructure among biggest peeves for Region 6 residents

Apr 17, 2019 News

It was a slow day at the outreach at the Tain Campus

Ministers of Government who held an Outreach Exercise at the University of Guyana Tain Tarmac to address burning issues within the region were met by hundreds of protestors brandishing placards about their alleged incompetence as a government.
One protestor, Parsram Harrinarine of Canefield, East Canje, stated that he has an issue with GWI disconnecting customers who owe very little and are forced to pay a high reconnection fee. He chose to picket the Ministers rather than meet them because “they are aware of the issue; it is in the media. It is not like they don’t know, so it is a waste of time to go in there.”
“They are corrupt, they don’t need to come to Berbice. We don’t need them here. Why they didn’t come in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018? Why they coming now? Is shame they taking from dem face,” he stressed.

Protestors were waiting for the Ministers yesterday.

Another protestor who was a staunch supporter of the Alliance For Change but jumped ship last year, Gladwyn Abdulla stated that his issue is with GWI.
According to him, the water company has been providing residents on the Corentyne with “limited water.

It in and out (intermittent) and the quality is terrible”. This, he said, has been going on for months although the Managing Director Dr. Richard Van West Charles visited the region and promised improved services.
Meanwhile, as the Ministers and their entourage sped past the protestors, they were greeted by members of staff of the various ministries and as they made their way through the tents, some persons that were present immediately engaged them with their issues.
The Ministers, including Ronald Bulkan, Cathy Hughes, Dominic Gaskin, and George Norton, were among those seen interac

A resident at the Ministry of the Presidency booth

ting with the public.
There were tents and staff representing the various ministries, utility companies, among others waiting for the crowd to show up to hear their concerns but people trickled in slowly throughout the day.

The Ministers were scheduled to visit at 10:30 hours but that schedule was revised to 2:30 pm to allow them to host a Cabinet Meeting at State House New Amsterdam.
Some of the main issues raised were the water situation in the ancient county, land and infrastructure issues and NIS. The venue was filled with mostly staff and police ranks.
The Commissioner of Police Leslie James and his team of Deputy Commissioners were also in attendance to listen to concerns.
It was the first joint outreach by the Ministers since taking office.

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