Crabwood Creek residents burn tyres, demand removal of NDC chairman, overseer

Dec 08, 2020 News

The residents in front the NDC building.

Kaieteur News – Several furious residents of Crabwood Creek, Upper Corentyne yesterday morning converged outside the Crabwood Creek Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) to protest for the removal of the NDC Chairman, Terbhawandat “Tero” Arjune, and the Overseer, Fizul Ally.

The aftermath: Some evidence still remains of the yesterday’s protest.

The residents, who braved the early morning sun with placards in hand, lined the roadway with tyres and set them on fire, interrupting the flow of traffic for a while. One of the placards read “Crabwood Creek NDC needs new management. All uneducated councillors must go. CWC has smart and educated people”. Another read, “Tero Arjune must go” in bold letters. Shortly after the fiery protest began, armed police arrived at the location and managed to clear the roadway to allow the smooth flow of traffic. However, the residents continued to protest and chant for the removal of the two officials.
Razika Singh, a resident of Crabwood Creek, told reporters that the NDC Chairman has not been doing a good job and has not been serving the residents as he should be.
“This chairman has not been doing a good job for the Crabwood Creek people; he doesn’t have the interest of the people at heart. He is a dictator and whenever a problem goes to him, he don’t find a solution, he tries to create enemies instead,” she stated.
“Is this the way a leader should be?” Singh asked, before making the call to have him removed from the position, which he has held for the past 13 years.
Jalil Singh, another angry resident, said that the NDC has been victimizing persons within the community and have chosen persons that they assist.
“It have friends with benefits in this council here, and the council is uneducated and is making uneducated decisions so we need a change in this NDC. We are asking for the Chairman and the Overseer to be removed by the government because we vote for the PPP and Mr. Ali as president, we didn’t vote for Mr. Arjune to rule on us for 13 years till now and not fixing our problems,” he argued.
One of the main problems raised by the protestors, which they said was not being addressed, is the need for better streets. They stressed that many of the streets are in desperate need of fixing but the NDC has not been “putting the people first”.
“When there are savings from the subvention, they fixing the office. They chose themselves over the people before they take the savings from the subventions and keep it when the street “gonna” get bad and fix them. They dictating and they hardly attend meetings, the attendance book will show how often they come,” Singh said.
The residents are calling on the government to intervene and have the Chairman and the Overseer removed and replaced with “educated people”.