Pull Quote: “I don’t care who I am working with; I don’t care which administration I am working with, I give my best, because I see myself as a public servant, and I am expected to give my best.”

Apr 21, 2019 Special Person

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No-Nonsense Regional Executive Officer, Pauline Lucas, is a ‘Special Person’

By Sharmain Grainger

From as far back as biblical days, it was quite a phenomenon to behold when a woman attempted to, and succeeded in infiltrating a male-dominated role. Such developments still draw much attention today. So it came as no surprise that when a woman was appointed to the position of Regional Executive Officer [REO] of the Region Four Regional Democratic Council [RDC] back in 2015, all eyes would have been on her.

That woman is Ms. Pauline Lucas, who has been making some notable waves in Region Four because of her no-nonsense management approach. In fact, what she made no bones about disclosing recently is that she has been, and will continue, managing the region’s money in much the way she does her own.
What many contractors who were awarded contracts in the region recently learnt is that Lucas doesn’t like to waste a single cent. She moreover warned the contractors, after awarding several millions in contracts, that she will be settling for neither substandard or delays in the completion of the various projects.
“I have heard from time to time that persons say ‘Miss Lucas is not a contractor how would she know what to look for?’…but I have had the experience building my own home, and I would not spend my money on something I cannot supervise, or see my money go down the drain, so I have a passion to always know what’s going on, even if it means reading

or calling in my engineer or calling up friends to explain certain things to me,” Lucas, who is deemed a freak for details, explained.
UNMATCHED ZEAL
The REO position became available to Lucas at a time when she was exploring her career options, but when she took the reins of the Region Four RDC, it was with unmatched zeal and vigour and a vision to make it a model region. Indeed she is well on her way to making her vision a reality.
Lucas has not only ensured that her Region has in place a functioning unit dedicated to procurement, to ensure that spending is done in the right and legal manner, but she has also authorized the introduction of a publication which is intended to chronicle all of the achievements of the Region while under her watch. These achievements are

already many, and from the look of things, many more will shortly be added.
Lucas just last year end completed a three-year contract as REO, and, it can be deduced that because of successful management of the Region, she was given the privilege of signing another, which will see her at the helm of the Region for another three years.
Lucas’s success in Region Four has been so overwhelming that it has been spilling over to other regions through her willingness to lend support to her colleagues where it is needed.
But what many people do not know is that Lucas has been benefiting, not only from the support of committed staffers, but she has been most dependent on the Supreme Being, whom she seeks for guidance and wisdom on a daily basis. This tactic has allowed her to always be on top of her game even when situations seem to be at their very worse.
“I live by two biblical scriptures Philippians 4:13 [I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength] and Ecclesiastes 9:10 [Whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with thy might for there is no work nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest,” said Lucas, who formerly fellowshipped at the Newtown Assemblies of God Church, but currently worships at the church’s branch at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, an area in which she now resides.

“I don’t care who I am working with; I don’t care which administration I am working with, I give my best, because I see myself as a public servant, and I am expected to give my best,” Lucas confided as she added, “you cannot operate and do your best without that connection with God. Everything that I would have achieved, I owe it unto God.”
FORMATIVE YEARS
She was born Pauline Allison Lucas to parents Leyland and Gweneth Lucas at the Georgetown Public Hospital on October 19, 1966. She was the fifth of eight children her parents’ raised.
A large part of Lucas’ young existence was at D’Urban Street Lodge, but she also recalled living at Hadfield Street and in Kitty too, all locations in the capital city of Georgetown. She remembers attending Lodge Government School, then the New Mentor Foundation Primary School, where she wrote Common

Entrance, which allowed her to be placed at North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary, where she completed two years of secondary school. She spent another three years completing her secondary education over at Central High where she wrote the Caribbean Examinations Council examination.
“I loved Maths, a whole lot,” said Lucas, as she recalled how as a young girl she’d imagined herself becoming a mathematician. In fact, she recalled too that even before her teenage years she’d also become very curious about electrical things and couldn’t seem to shake this feeling, even after being encouraged by her mother to pursue nursing when she graduated from secondary school.
THINGS ELECTRICAL
She had an unwavering desire at this point to delve into electrical engineering. By this time her father had passed away and her mother was the sole breadwinner of the home, and was willing to let her daughter pursue her heart’s desire. Before long the blossoming Pauline Lucas was enrolled as an apprentice in the then Guyana Electricity Corporation [GEC] training school at Sophia.
“I was the only female among 20 apprentices,” Lucas recounted, as she added, “I loved what I did…I was what they called a ‘Tom Boy’ back then.”
She was learning all there was to know about becoming an electrical technician, right down to learning to climb the poles.
“Everything the boys in class did, I did too… throughout that four years of the training programme you had to be in various departments, including the lines department,” Lucas shared, as she painted a picture of herself in overalls, safety shoes and helmet. She remembers being attached to the Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara Power Station at one time. In addition to this, Lucas was also trained to become a mechanic and auto electrician, all of which she developed a knack for at training school.
During her training she was also placed in the Instrumentation Unit of the GEC, a department which was tasked with testing all equipment used at the various power stations across the country. Lucas graduated from Training School in 1987 and was employed by GEC. She remained with the organization until 1990.
It was while there she conceived and gave birth to her only child, a daughter, whom she named Kendika. “She is a gift to me from God,” said a smiling Lucas of her daughter.
What is also notable about this powerhouse of a woman, is that her training experience at GEC was not nearly enough, so she enrolled at the Government Technical Institute to fulfill her long time passion of becoming an electrical engineer.
EMBRACING CHANGE
There were some challenges for her along the way being a woman attempting to infiltrate a man’s world, so much so, that she eventually decided to change career paths. Since she already had a liking for Maths, Lucas decided to divert her attention to Economics. She was able to successfully complete the degree programme offered at the University of Guyana from which she graduated in 1995.
Since she had made up her mind to change careers path, Lucas left GEC and started sending out applications, 13 to be exact, to various organisations. She remembers telling herself that the first organization to respond to her would be the one she would endeavour to be a part of.
Lucas recalled receiving a call from the Ministry of Finance inviting her for an interview, and she vividly remembers having to undergo two interviews – one with former Finance Minister [Former President and current Opposition Leader], Bharrat Jagdeo, and another with then Head of the Budget Department [current Minister of Finance], Winston Jordan.
She was employed as a Planner, but was promoted on two more occasions to Planner 1 and Planner 2. She was ready to resign and take advantage of an alluring job offer shortly before another promotion was about to be offered to her [Senior Planner]. This she became aware of when she sought a recommendation from her Supervisor at the time, Dr. Ashni Singh [who was also a Minister of Finance]
Before leaving Finance, Lucas recalled learning a great deal from other superiors within the entity, including Ms. Laureen Baird and Sonya Roopnauth. She also benefited from numerous training programmes, both locally and overseas, that helped to improved her capabilities.
In fact she was able to master her work so well that she was faced with remarks at times that “they trained you well” when confronted with officials including REOs during meetings she was subjected to attend in order to query regional spending. But little did Lucas know that she was being prepared for even greater work.
DESTINY BECKONS
Destiny was leading the way. After resigning from Finance, Lucas went on to take up an appointment at the local office of the European Union as a Programme Officer, responsible for projects, and, according to her, “I think that kind of sealed it off for me. I learnt so much and I believe that too would have helped to make me the person I am today.” Her stay there lasted for just about nine years.
After leaving the EU, Lucas remained at home for a while, before accepting a short consultancy task at the not-for-profit Habitat for Humanity. But following that consultancy, she was asked to stay on as an Associate Director in charge of resource mobilization and projects.
Lucas resigned from that post at the end of 2015 in order to take on what could very well be deemed the career of a lifetime – becoming the REO of Region Four.
She remembers how it all went down as if it were yesterday. According to Lucas, although being at Habitat was akin to being a part of a family, she did have the desire to expand her horizons given her years of working experience and knowledge that she gained over the years.
Moreover, when she opened a newspaper one day and saw a Ministry of Communities advertisement inviting suitable applicants to apply for the post of REO she quickly thought “why not?”
Soon after applying, a call came inviting her for an interview, and not long after that she was being asked to assume duty as the REO of Region Four, which spans Mahaica to Industry and Eccles to Moblissa.
Although it took some getting used to and immense efforts to get things to a level which she could be proud of, Lucas is convinced that this could not have been possible without the support of workers at every level within the Region, especially Regional Education Officer, Ms. Tiffany Harvey, and Regional Health Officer, Dr. Quincy Jones.
“A lot of money has been plugged into Region Four. I would have seen numerous schools and health centres built on the East Coast and the East Bank, and lots of roads have been built…I think we are on course to achieving all that I plan to achieve during my time here,” said Lucas.
What makes her ongoing tenure as REO particularly notable, is the fact that Lucas has been ready and willing to lend support to her counterparts in other regions. Not so long ago she led a team of officers from her Region to Region One in the quest to help that region derive solutions to help address the influx of Venezuelan migrants.
“I do believe we can lend our experiences with other regions, I am not saying we are the best, but we do strive for perfection, and we do believe in helping where we can,” said Lucas, as she reiterated her hope of making Region Four the Model Region.
For her resolute dedication to improving Region Four, today we at Kaieteur News honour REO Lucas with the title of our ‘Special Person’.

 

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