Buxtonians ask President to provide jobs
Stabroek News
January 29, 2003
President Bharrat Jagdeo has given the assurance that there is no policy measure of unemployment being directed against any particular community.
At the Prayer Encounter and Dinner at State House last Friday, Church leaders from Buxton, East Coast Demerara, called on the President to provide employment for the youths and to address other social issues in the village as well as the killing of Shaka Blair by the police last year. According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the President asserted: "Unemployment is not a policy measure against Buxtonians because you can go to Essequibo Coast, Linden, Georgetown, Berbice and other parts of the country and you will find people unemployed."
He said further: "We all have to work towards finding employment for everyone. But it (unemployment) is not a policy measure directed against any particular community."
It was noted that as a result of the dialogue process between President Jagdeo and the late Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte, some $15M was spent in Buxton last year to upgrade social services.
And addressing concerns raised by various Church leaders, Jagdeo said, "I am prepared to work with any civil society group or political group for the interest of my people wherever they are in any community."
The President explained, GINA said, that he had met with Shaka Blair's brother and a group of people from Buxton sometime last year and they had raised their concerns and asked for assistance.
Jagdeo pointed out that a small committee was set up and they were working on the issues raised by the group. However, he noted, the group subsequently said that they could not return to meet with him because the community would have perceived such action as a sell-out, GINA stated.
