Madam Speaker, I rise to lend my support to the AFC members who have spoken before; for the first time in this honourable house. It is indeed an honour for me to stand in this National Assembly of the people and I am cognizant that with that honour comes awesome responsibilities.
Madam Speaker, the AFC members who spoke before and those who will come after me have made and will make critical, analytical presentations, but allow me Madam Speaker to address some matters close to my home and my people and which I am sure are common all across Guyana.
Madam Speaker, Honourable Member Dr. Ashni Singh painted an entrancing picture of Guyana present and in the future. However, Madam Speaker, it was like déjà vu. As I listened to the honourable member present the 2012 budget I was transported back in time as I am sure I heard many of those statement sometime in the past, millions for regional development, billions in health care, billions for education, millions for Amerindian development, it all sounds so familiar. But Madam Speaker, I must ask where did the money go? Not in Region Eight I tell you! All those millions and billions, I don’t know, maybe it was spent on the coastland because in Region Eight the people are still suffering.
Take for example the roads in Region Eight and I use the word road quite loosely, more relevantly trails since they are not properly established.
The so called roads in region eight are not in a good condition, as Paul Keens Douglas would say, is papa pothole, mama pothole and all them pickney potholes, is a whole family of potholes. There can be no comfortable, safe travelling along these roads. The road from mango landing to mahdia itself is in a terrible condition. More over buses using Mango Landing must not pay toll because I strongly believe the companies are exploiting people who are looking a living. For example, DEmerara Timbers, they are extracting the resources yet still exploiting the people. It is like making rich people richer and poor people poorer.
The water situation in Region Eight. Madam Speaker, this continues to be a major problem. To some extent the pipelines have been fixed at Mahdia but there is more repairs to be done. At Campbell Town almost 70% of the people are still without water. The water situation at Paramakatoi, people at Paramakatoi use small creeks for bathing and washing purposes and this water is stagnant due to the dry weather and this has led to the spread of scabies among the population, there is a typical example of this, a week ago a team of regional officials visited the area and spent a couple of days over there. On their return the had to seek medical attention at Mahdia District hospital to treat scabies. Maybe word has gotten around so we don’t see government officials visiting Paramakatoi. So Madam Speaker, we need potable water at Paramakatoi to better serve the people. We need additional wells at Paramakatoi.
Health- the region is looking at the infrastructural development of health centers, health posts and upgrading of hospitals in Region Eight. We welcome this. Anyway the monies allocated in the area of health for the region is very limited and we are asking the figure to be increased to cater for the works to be done, for example if we have to build a new health centre at Princeville with living quarters, we will be left with no finance to work with on the expansion of Kuru Kaburu health centre which needs urgent attention. We also need favourable salaries for nurses and health care professionals in Region Eight. At the Mahdia District Hospital we need 24 hour security services with guards being paid an attractive salary.
Poor access to health services. Transportation is a major issue at mahdia district hospital since there is no vehicle to help with transporting patients around Mahdia and to Georgetown even though we have a driver available.
Education- Education in Region Eight is fast going downhill especially since the introduction of volunteer teachers, rather than qualified teachers. There have been complaints by the parents that these teachers do not use the curriculum guides, and the syllabus provided by the Ministry of Education for education delivery. Instead they focus more on the textbooks when planning lessons, and since most of the textbooks are out-dated it is placing the students at a disadvantage. I was also made to understand that these teachers do not have adequate educational skills to deliver education , some of them have poor grades and do not have the potential to deliver quality education to students which will enable them to cope with the educational challenges of the outside world. Thus performances are declining instead of increasing. Since education is critical towards the development of a nation’s human resources and health, teachers should be given justice by raising their salaries.
Scholarships for region Eight – students who excel at CXC. There are two students who I know of who excelled at CXC at Paramakatoi but have not been given any scholarships to further their studies. One was forced to do teaching which is not of his personal interest. Therefore I strongly suggest that the Government should look very strongly to the interest of young people when it comes to human resource development.
Honourable Minister Dr. Ashni Singh mentioned in his budget presentation, that companies are coming into Guyana and jobs will be created, I would like to ask the Minister if Guyanese are equipped with the knowledge and skills to acquire those jobs.
Let me say Madam Speaker, in Relation to Region Eight, when it comes to operating heavy duty machinery etc, our young people are not equipped to capture such jobs. There is a need to train our young people in trade since for example if we entertain outsiders to get the contracts in the region, we remain unemployed and more over, the infrastructural work they do is not of a good quality as they are always in a hurry to get the work done even if it means that quality has to be sacrificed. If we employed the citizens of the region to carryout infrastructural works Madam Speaker, I strongly believe that they would do a better job. Therefore the government should provide scholarships to young people at region eight and let them enter institutions such as GITC, GTI and other institutions such as GSA, CPCE, UG, etc. to enhance skills in trade. We need to produce tradesmen on the ground, so that when buildings are dilapidated, when pipes are broken, we do not have to depend on coastlanders to fly from Georgetown to fix them, we will be able to do it ourselves. Therefore I am kindly asking the government to make human resource development priority number one in this country and such development bust be based on the needs and opportunities in communities. For too long Amerindians have been viewed as basket weavers, we are more than that! Stop the platitudes and hallow sentiments on Amerindian development. It is time to show real respect for Guyana’s first people.
1. On unemployment in Region Eight- Mr. Speaker, the level of unemployment is high among the residents of Region eight. (Young people and adults). Most of the economic activities they are involved in are farming and mining. Therefore young people upon leaving school will go straight to the mining areas to do mining, or other things which I will address in a moment, which is good but also very risky. Since we have a high level of crime in mining areas we do not see it safe for our young people in large members to be involve in mining. And what about those young men who do not want to go into mining what are they supposed to do? Steal? Abuse drugs? Plant and sell drugs? Get into crime? Do things which are against the law? Madam Speaker, why Amerindians should not have opportunities to become agronomists, environmentalists, accountants, lawyers, certified electricians,? Are these professions exclusively for coastlanders?
Now for the other job opportunity in the mining areas, Prostitution-
Madam Speaker, prostitution has been and still is a major issue among people in region eight. And if left neglected, human trafficking will reach pandemic stage because of unemployment. Young people who left school recently have indicated to me that they feel hopeless since they did not do so well in math and English and since this is the requirement for higher education they feel that they don’t have a chance, therefore they go straight to prostitution, selling their bodies for as little as three and even one pennyweight of gold to earn a living since their parents are unemployed and cannot afford to keep them anymore. This is really sad, because these young people also end up as victims of HIV/AIDS; since they are not so much knowledgeable of these activities they’re involved in. Sometimes I wonder, what value does the honourable minister of education place on an Amerindian youth?
Madam Speaker since during campaigns for 2011 election we were promise by now Pwho resident Ramotar, a government that is concern about the affairs of Amerindians, and there he is President Donald Ramotar and we need him to manifest himself as one keeps his promises.
Madam Speaker, I looked at the 2012 budget specifically for two things, job creation and women empowerment in Region Eight. Madam Speaker I am still looking. I have even look in between the lines.
Madam Speaker, we see some paltry allocations for health, education, administration but nothing concrete for job creation, nothing for women development. Madam Speaker, I know the government will stand and recite the litany of low carbon development and GFIF but Madam Speaker we rue the day when Amerindian development must rest on the whims and fancy of a foreign country and government. Amerindians are Guyana’s first people, a significant percentage of foreign exchange earned by this country comes from gold, diamond and forestry, this is the wealth of Amerindian lands and our heritage yet we are being told our development must come from handouts from foreign governments. Madam Speaker, it angers me! As a proud Amerindian woman I say, Amerindians must not support this budget unless and until the allocations for Amerindian development are guaranteed from revenue earned through economic activities in Amerindian lands.
I thank you!
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