“Victoria Village celebrates 179 years since the purchase of Plantation Northbrook”
– residents reminded of govt’s commitment to ensuring transformation and economic independence of villages
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, December 1, 2018
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams SC, who attended the recent commemoration ceremony in Victoria Village, on November 29, is adamant that for development to be impactful, it must reach down to the grassroots.
The AG said development should permeate through villages.
“It is the philosophy of your government that the economies of the village must be revived if people-centred development is to prioritised” AG Williams said.
Adding that the government was therefore committed to improving the economic infrastructure, “roads, bridges irrigation and electricity to support village economies, including the development of your farmlands.”
On November 7, 1839, Plantation Northbrook, now Victoria village, was purchased by eighty-three free men and women from five plantations; Ann’s Grove, Dochfour, Enmore, Hope and Paradise.
Describing Victoria village, as the mother of the village movement, the Attorney General said that simple financial transaction, by unlettered men and women, transformed the then colony of British Guiana.
“The purchase of a single plantation, and conversion into a village laid the foundation for the establishment of a nation” AG Williams said.
The minister also told villagers that government was stimulating entrepreneurship and enterprise in order to invigorate the economies of villages, particularly in developing cottage industries and small and medium scale enterprises.
“Your government is supporting the continued quest of people for economic independence”
He said government views villages as important to generating jobs and wealth for the people of Guyana. Noting that the reintroduction of Local Government Elections (LGE) in 2016 was a first step in the empowering of villages to having a greater say in the management of their communities.
Felecia Valenzuela.
Image: Ministry of Legal Affairs.