Woman's-eye View
By Vanda Radzik
Stabroek News
May 20, 2001

Guyana now boasts 20 women members of parliament. This is a significant step forward in terms of numbers. The breakdown by party is as follows: out of a total of 27 MPs, the PNC/R has ten who are women; the PPP/C has eight women out of a total of 35 members and the GPA/ WPA has put up women MPs for both of its seats gained.

This total amounts to not quite the expected 33 1/2 per cent, but it is an honourable benchmark nonetheless. The big question is will these women make a difference? We hope so. But to do so requires a good deal of guts. A break with the backwardness of bickering and hide-bound partisanship that has characterized the Parliament is in order. We hope that a Women's Parliamentary Cau-cus may be on the cards and that this will herald a new era in the National Assembly.

Special congratulations to Clarissa Riehl of the PNC/R for her assumption of duty as deputy speaker of the House and to the women ministers appointed by the PPP/C - especially the three new ones, Jennifer Westford, Bibi Shadick and Carolyn Rodri-gues. Particular kudos are in order for the GAP/WPA for allocating both of their hard-won seats to women candidates: Sheila Holder and Shirley Melville. This is probably a first in the world and in keeping with the innovative and progressive political culture embraced by the WPA and the bold stand of the GAP party in making history.

Woman's Eye View will check the progress and keep an eye on the track records of our women MPs. These women in Parliament will be and, need to be, put to the test. Politics is no bed of roses and a lot is left to be desired in the particular low-level brand known in Guyana. It is hoped that these women will show the way to a new and improved parliamentary culture. The old heads will have to swallow some of the usual bile and try to institute an issues-oriented tenor to the National Assembly. Enough of the low gravy, ladies and gentlemen!! Let's get on track with nation-building and multi-partisan politics of a high order.

We have a small country to manage and it is literally dying on our hands - crying out for leadership with problem solving as its trademark. It is a matter of shame, generally speaking, that, as a nation, we have done so badly, with no good reason for having failed ourselves. Guyana's "potential" has become an empty drum to beat of late. Potential is pie in the sky; we have made an art of building castles in the air and churning out empty rhetoric. When are we going grapple with the heart of the matter and just do it! Nation building is the name of the game. This is the chance of a lifetime; ladies so take your seats, but please keep on your toes and take action for the good of Guyana.

Bouquets for the new minister of Amerindian Affairs

The new minister of Amerindian Affairs is to be congratulated for going out into the field straight off the bat. I also noted the quick response, as reported in the press, to the "labba rat" scourge wreaking havoc with farms in Region Eight, which was brought to her attention. Ms Carolyn Rodrigues is known for her unstinting commitment to the development of the Amerindian peoples of Guyana. Her solid reputation in her years of service with SIMAP as the Amerindian programme officer is well deserved and should stand her in good stead in her new role.

She has built up a good rapport with a wide cross section of community leaders and has earned the respect of the citizens in the hinterland regions and other coastal Amerindian communities. So, she is well positioned to carry forward an Amerindian Development Agenda "without fear or favour", as the oath of office requires.

Having faced the odds herself, Ms Rodrigues knows the enormous difficulties and constraints facing Amerindian students when they have to leave the safety and security of their villages and culture for schooling in town and it is expected that she will leave no stone unturned in improving the condition and position of Amerindian scholars and students. The National Development Strategy puts at one per cent the number of Amerindian students with tertiary education! This is an unacceptable imbalance that certainly needs correcting.

Acknowledging the thorns

It is also expected that the perennial thorns in the side of the Amerindian sector such as historic problems with accessing birth certificates and the conundrum of Amerindian land rights will merit the attention of the minister as priority issues and that she will seek honest and open discourse in resolving these.

Amerindian women are often described statistically as the most marginalized of the population - the poorest of the poor and the least represented of Guyanese. It is therefore particularly pleasing that an Amerindian woman now holds one of the highest positions in the land and can herself become a role model for countless Amerindian girls.

Women MPs must be agents of change

There are certain expectations held that women MPs from both sides of the House should take cognizance of. One expectation is that they will be active in representation issues. To do this, they will have to go about amongst the people: find out about the condition of the legions of women security guards, survey how many women and their families are still homeless and landless, how many women and the households they manage are without water supply. One way to do this is to fight hard for increased budgetary measures and allocations at the level of the national and regional budgets that will address these outstanding issues. The quality of life indicators for the majority of women in Guyana are not very heartening. Basic needs, which are basic rights, are not met. One sector that warrants close scrutiny is the water sector.

Wells gone crazy in north Rupununi

I recently observed firsthand a most bizarre situation in the north Rupununi sub-district of Region Nine. In community after community, wells were being constructed - the problem was that some of the new wells were being set up right next door to perfectly good ones that had been installed. In one community, Rupertee, the wells were literally a stone's throw away from each other. The original well had recently been fitted with a hand pump and was serving the needs of the Community Resource Centre and health post very well indeed. In another community, just up the road - Wowetta, there were three wells in the same vicinity - again, only a couple of yards separating two of them.

It would have been so much saner to install distribution systems instead from the already established wells, with standpipes and sinks with taps built into the health posts, schools and community centres for instance. Gravity feeds could also have been installed to enhance storage capacity.

Prior to this, in another bizarre project, GUYWA had contracted a company to drill two wells in Toka at the cost of a couple million of dollars - these wells have never produced water and never will, because they are in the wrong location. The residents of Toka took a stand in their own self-interest and refused to have any more wells put down until they are compensated for the waste of money invested in these other non-functioning wells.

This should be documented and analysed as a case study of how not to do a water project; and used for training and application in a "lessons learned" framework for risk reduction. I recommend a penalty clause be built into every community-based contract that utilizes taxpayer dollars or donor community money that should mandate compensation to the "beneficiary" community for crazy projects like these.

I think one of the very first questions to be tabled in Parliament by any one of the women MPs on either side of the House should ask for an explanation of this particular "project". The residents from several communities in this sub-region have been complaining about this and it is certain that they will get the ear of the Amerindian minister herself.