Our well-being and rights to equity should not be deferred

Aug 13, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The Jagdeo/Ali regime continues to fail the society by excluding from their planning, if there is one such, the people and their representatives.

For instance, the current housing drive has not taken into consideration the will, desire and a clear focus on modern development, consistent with the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI concentrates on reflecting the number of persons brought out of poverty and having the basic amenities of life such as healthcare, education, potable water, access to food, etc.

Moving persons from their location to another is not only myopic but perceived by many as designed to not only break up families but engage in geographical displacement for the purpose of gerrymandering. People are being placed in areas where they are further deprived because of the absence of or inadequate social services such as daycare facilities and basic amenities. The deprivation of these forces persons to dig into their meagre income to access these services.

There are instances where persons who live in Buxton, East Coast Demerara are allocated house lots in Region 3, and those living in Stewartville, West Coast Demerara are given house lots at Vigilance East, Coast Demerara.

It has also been observed that on most occasions, the design of these housing developments has not taken into consideration important elements such as sports, agriculture, security and health. The regime is not building communities, they are building new repressive areas.

This is not meant to be an insult to those who have made tremendous sacrifices and are desperate to own a home of their own. This is meant to make the point that the government ought to be doing better, can afford to do better, but lacks the will and interest to do so. The current housing programme has failed the ordinary worker. Desperation has forced people into seeing even a 4×4 as a blessing.

The PPP had an opportunity to be guided by housing developments and communities of the past even if they did not want to acknowledge, it happened under the Forbes Burnham administration. In those communities, people had all weathered roads, schools, playground, cinema/entertainment, police outpost, market/shopping mall, health centres, running water and electricity. That time of development saw the homeowner having not just keys to a house, but a house built on irrigated land with drainage and sewage systems. These are all standing to emulate, improve and build upon.

As we address the health services, one will recognise that so often, proclamations are being made of the construction of new hospitals and clinics, the purchasing of equipment and large quantities of pharmaceuticals, but yet at the same time, the services continue to decline, putting the health of the citizens at risk. Here again, the message that is being sent is as we complain the government will spend money on purchasing and building rather than establishing a proficient health service to deliver for the nation.

As we examine the hubris within this society, one will observe that we are travelling a path where there exists a total disconnect between the decisions of the government and the needs of the people. Issues such as respecting fundamental rights and freedoms continue to elude us and while some may consider these rights not necessary, they should be reminded that these rights form the bedrock upon which all legal resource will flow.

On the matter of oil and gas, citizens see the exploitation of these resources as opportunities to escape poverty. This view is also articulated by the nation’s political leaders, yet they do little or nothing to make it real. Whereas the World Bank says half the society lives in poverty, I rather suspect the number is higher. The visibility of poverty cannot be missed. There exist two schools of thought on the management of oil resources. 1) should we fight now to get our fair share from the existing contract or 2) should we wait as promised that our share will come when we renegotiate a new contract, or we get a new government.

The fight must be now for equal and equitable distribution of what the existing contract allows us to acquire. Ordinary citizens/working class must demand our fair share now, to do otherwise is to fight for the powers that be to get more and deny ourselves. Our well-being and rights to equity should not be deferred.

Sincerely,

Lincoln Lewis

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• consideration, Human Development Index (HDI), Lincoln Lewis, poverty, regime

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