Standard of living in Hinterland better under current administration – MP Mervyn Williams

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, July 30, 2019

After taking into consideration the many interventions of the APNU+AFC coalition government, the indigenous people of Guyana can truly boast of a new standard of living being introduced to them. This is according to Member of Parliament, Mervyn Williams who was at the time interacting with residents of the Kabakaburi village in the Pomeroon River.

MP Williams spoke about the investments made specifically into the education sector while he also spoke of the ease of access to public good and services within these regions. The Government has provided and continues to support a system which provides for quality access to education even from the lowest level.

“As our children go into Nursery School, hot meals and school uniforms are available to them. To get them to school boats are available to them, buses are available to them, bicycles are available to them, breakfast and books are available to them that’s the support system for children in the Nursery education area.”

Added to this he said, throughout primary school years, children access the same support. It is then at the secondary level the government goes a bit further in assisting to shape the future of Indigenous children.

“We have a scholarship programme which is expanding every year. As part of that package, there is a dormitory where our children can go and live. There they have social workers to counsel them if they have difficulties, where they have qualified and caring people who are house mothers and fathers looking into their interest. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs supervises this particular programme and provides free transportation to and from school,” The government MP explained.

He also reminded of the recently commissioned dorm for hinterland students pursuing tertiary education which caters for 120 persons. In addition to free-living spaces “they also get free transportation from their homes in villages to the city and back whenever school is out,” Williams said.

The government has not only reached out for hinterland children but the persons in the wider communities. Williams explained that creating access to public goods and services was one way in bridging the gap between hinterland and coastland communities.

This has been done through the establishment of capital towns in each hinterland region, namely Mabaruma (Region One), Bartica (Region Seven), Mahdia (Region Eight) and Lethem (Region Nine).

Services available in these capital towns include registration of births and deaths, tax advisory and other services provided by the Guyana Revenue Authority, National Insurance Scheme, Central Immigration among others. Allowing for easier access to the many services whilst saving much-needed finances which would have been spent on transportation to travel to the capital city.

These decentralised services, MP Williams noted demonstrates the government’ commitment to improving ervice delivery to the residents in their communities, towns and regions. “You don’t have to travel to the capital city to do things as you would have had to do in the past. Now you do these things in your capital towns and the services and goods that are not yet available will soon be made available,” he told the residents.

Another major development in the hinterland regions is the construction and upgrade of several roads. “This infrastructure development agenda seeks to erase those inequalities and it allows access by indigenous peoples and hinterland residents to the same resources that are available in the capital,” Williams noted.

He added, “the inequalities of the past are truly things of the past, this government is very keen on hinterland development for the express reason that our president recognised all of us are equal and are entitled to equal opportunities regardless of where we live, regardless of what we look like, regardless of what political party you support… we must ensure that equality is pronounced.”

Other sectors have seen significant attention over the four years period by the government, including the establishment of 171 ICT hubs most of which are in hinterland villages, expansion of services at health facilities complemented by outreaches, agriculture interventions including drainage and irrigation for farmlands, housing projects in some areas and social services.

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