The past week has been a busy and fruitful one for the Coalition Govt.

Aug 18, 2019 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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Apart from the widely expected comprehensive victory in the High Court on house to house registration and the failure of the Opposition to force the Court to name a date for general and regional elections, Government was also able to outline a number of developmental plans for the country in the coming months – all the while pushing ahead with its agenda in spite of the antics of a desperate opposition.
For example, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, headed by the Honourable David Patterson, brought sweet news to the ears of thousands of Guyanese who either live in the far-flung interior regions, or whose lives depend on the quality and functionality of the infrastructure in those hinterland districts.
Works will soon begin on extending the road network from 4 miles to Kwebana in Region One, the Barima-Waini District, Guyana’s northernmost region. Additionally, a number of roads which had been horribly neglected during the 23-year reign of the PPP, will be upgraded in the Santa Rosa area and nearby islands, also in Region One.
If these are not enough, similar works are at an advanced stage for the crucial Itaballi to Puruni district in Region Seven, as this area has emerged as a major mining and hub. Its rich soil also holds great potential for agricultural development. Other planned major developmental works include the construction of new bridge culvert at Bina Hill – Region 9, construction of new bridge culvert at Surama Junction, road improvement of Annai to Lethem Road – Region 9, Rehabilitation of road from Mabura to Mango Landing, rehabilitation of 3 bridges and 1 year maintenance of Sherima to Rockstone Crossing in Region 10, as well as road improvement and rehabilitation for Kurupukari Landing.
While all this was happening, the executive of the Alliance For Change (AFC) in the past week also found the time to deliberate on the country’s soon to be dominant oil and gas sector. In the same week that Tullow Oil of the United Kingdom said it had found large deposits of oil at its Jethro-1 well in the Orinduik Block, Party leaders deliberated on the way forward.
The Party said in a statement that it reiterated “its support for conditional cash transfers from oil revenues as a means of ensuring that traditionally neglected segments of Guyana’s population are able to benefit meaningfully from the natural wealth of our country.
While the AFC is in the process of formulating a more comprehensive policy position to advance to the Guyanese people, we believe strongly that the concept has merit and should not be dismissed without the benefit of further examination.
The AFC’s policy will explore several indirect initiatives which can benefit Guyanese, including: low interest loans, improved health care, free education, enhanced pensions and NIS benefits, greater access to affordable housing, as well as conditional cash transfers. The AFC believes that cash transfers tied to social programmes and responsible civic behaviour have been proven to work in other countries. There are numerous successful models worldwide which have brought significant social adjustments to marginalised people and catalysed further socioeconomic progress.
One such programme close to home is Brazil’s “Bolsa Familia”, under which poor families with children, must ensure their children attend school and are vaccinated in order to qualify for and remain on the programme.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, headed by the Honourable Cathy Hughes, was busy taking advantage of the schools holiday period to push ahead with a number of ICT training programmes and student exposures.
Twenty-eight web developers have just completed the “National Capacity Building Program on Web Accessibility and online design. The programme also included exposure to the development of accessible websites programmes. The programme was executed in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Minister Hughes noted that her Ministry is doing its part in ensuring that Guyanese are more capable of meeting the demands of the new global and digital world that exists today.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Nine, the Minister said, speaks to humans’ access to the internet. This is “almost a human right, so it is in that context that the Ministry of Public Telecommunications really got involved with ensuring that we look at how we can use technology to better the lives and to improve accessibility for persons living with disabilities. Information and data, they say, in today’s world is the new oil. It is extremely valuable and so we do under-service any person when we lock out any person from being able to access the worldwide encyclopedia we call the internet,” Minister Hughes noted.
She also suggested that the private sector should come onboard for future programmes, noting that Government wants to see “regular websites being constructed and enabled to reach not just what we would call the average Guyanese or the average person overseas, but we want to make sure it’s enabled so that persons with disabilities can access and share the information,” she pointed out. I look forward to the day when every ordinary website would be enabled for accessibility for this important sector and persons in our society. We don’t want to leave anybody out”.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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