President Ali must focus on rural commitment

Oct 09, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Kaieteur News – I write to applaud President Ali for his commitment to giving fair and balanced distribution of resources to rural and hinterland areas. The previous coalition regime largely neglected and marginalized rural and hinterland communities resulting in a decline in vote representation from 2015 and its defeat at the March 2020 elections. The PPP, on the other hand, saw an increase in the percentage and number of votes from the rural areas or regions over 2015. Without rural and hinterland support, the PPP would have come up short in the election.
In the past, preceding governments gave preference in investment in urban areas. The rural areas, despite contributing the bulk of government revenues, have remained underdeveloped. The rural communities expect a redirection of resources so that there would be equity and balanced development of villages that were heretofore discriminated against by succeeding APNU and PNC led regimes.
The coalition committed a huge amount of resources to its base of support in urban areas and selected rural villages, its base of support neglecting other rural communities even though voters in some of them voted for the coalition to put it in government in May 2015. Rural and hinterland areas that are known to support the PPP were not even considered for resources for development. They lack proper roads and other infrastructure problems. In addition, unemployment is extremely high and have high suicide and diabetes rates, among other problems.
President Ali has indicated that no community would be discriminated against or neglected. If there is one lesson to learn from the elections of 2015 and 2020, rural areas should not be neglected as it resulted in the PPP losing support and power in 2015 and coalition losing support and power in 2020. Rural and hinterland areas should become a priority because the bulk of the population and the nation’s natural resources, the source of its wealth, is rural and hinterland based. Rural and hinterland people are struggling for employment with the highest proportion of unemployment in the country. Tens of thousands lost their job during the coalition term in office. Over half the adult population in rural and hinterland areas are unemployed and or underemployed.
Some sixty percent of the population is rural and hinterland based, contributing some two-thirds of the nation’s revenues for decades. Yet less than a quarter of the national budget is committed to rural and hinterland areas with the rest going to urban development. The voters of rural areas account for some 60% of the rural electorate which would be equivalent of about 35 seats in parliament. Yet rural dwellers are assigned just about 20 seats. Rural people have been sorely neglected. The people of marginalized rural and hinterland areas say they deserve their fair share. It is pleasing to read that President Ali’s administration has committed to giving all areas their fair share. The rural and hinterland communities deserve a level playing field and are pleased with President Ali’s commitment to provide resources for rapid development in the marginalized and neglected areas.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram

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