President Bharrat Jagdeo has denied that Region 10 is being discriminated against because the Regional Democratic Council is led by the opposition PNCR and he has urged local government bodies in Linden to work closely with the people there.
The President was visiting Linden on Tuesday for the third time in several weeks after the power and water supply systems in the bauxite town crumbled and mass protests and the blocking of bridges and roads followed. The protests have ended following an improvement in the situation.
While in Linden on a two-day visit, the President attended several group meetings with representatives from the religious bodies, nurses of the Linden Hospital Complex, the Linbridge committee, the Linden Television Station staff and staff of the Linden Power Company among others.
And he took time to show how funds were being allocated and compared allocations to Region Ten with Region Six which is a PPP/C stronghold.
Discussions with the religious leaders centred on how they could play a greater leadership role, apart from spiritual leadership, in developmental tasks and ensuring that allocated funds were spent in the region effectively.
Upon his arrival in the town on Tuesday, Jagdeo visited Silvertown, West Watooka and Mariah Elizabeth listening to residents' complaints about poor drainage, garbage disposal, flooding, and transportation for school children. "What I have seen within the communities were people who may be poor but have a great deal of enthusiasm and energy to do things to help themselves if only they receive some level of attention from the government and the regional authorities", Jagdeo said recalling the visits.
He noted that the issues raised by the community members in some cases did not require monetary resources and could be easily resolved with the given attention. Additionally there were those that would have to be addressed in the long term.
But the Mayor and Town Council (MTC) came under fire. Jagdeo said the body and, to a lesser extent, the RDC, had to work towards winning the confidence of residents noting that people were disillusioned with the services they provided. "I have committed the government to working with them and I will make sure that the town council pay more heed to their concerns. If that doesn't happen we'll find alternative mechanisms to resolving some of the problems of the people in the area." He did say he was pleased that Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo accompanied him to all the communities and was present at all of the meetings. But he said Mingo and his team needed to be more on the "ball" to respond to residents. Additionally they had to dispel the impression that funds that went to the region were not being spent effectively.
Jagdeo expressed dissatisfaction that Linden Mayor Stan Smith was not at most of the meetings. "I do hope that he understands that he has a responsibility to the people of this town; they collect rates and taxes and they have a responsibility to people."
Resulting from Jagdeo's visits, several committees have emerged to address issues affecting various areas in the town. The president will be meeting with these groups once a month but he advised them that they should organise themselves to prevent repeated representation of the same issues. "These committees would not supplant the RDC but they can help them and the central government to ensure that a lot of the resources spent is spent more effectively. And they can also signal problems that are brewing on the ground." He noted that in many instances officials tended to suppress community problems since they might expose their inefficiencies.
He also addressed allegations levied at him by the Linbridge Community Committee, a body formed in the days of the blockade of the Wismar/Mackenzie bridge.
The committee had said Jagdeo had misrepresented or misinterpreted them as saying that they were not willing to work with the Linden RDC and the M&TC. But Jagdeo stood by his comments, saying, "I hope that they are not playing politics because they made it very clear that they did not want to work with the RDC and the M&TC.... They made it clear that they wanted this committee...and they asked me to disband the town council.... I hope that they don't start playing politics and that they are genuinely concerned about the community issues."
Additionally Jagdeo said blocking public passages was illegal but the protestors were not harshly dealt with since he had felt the severity of their sufferings. "But I made it clear that once power was restored and if ordinary people went back to their activities then we couldn't continue with any infringement of the law."
Regarding electricity it was said that the government was moving to secure a more reliable power for the community and Linmine. He said that processes were in train for Omai Gold Mines Limited to start working towards shipping down generating sets to the town as part of its planned investment in the Linden Mining Enterprise (Linmine). The three sets would only be generating 9 MW which is not sufficient to supply the community and Linmine at peak hours, thus alternative sources would be needed. As such the beleaguered Linden Power Company's (LPC) operations would go well beyond the end of June. The privately owned LPC is in receivership and the collapse of its generators sparked the recent power and water crisis in Linden.
As for the position of Canadian-based Cambior's potential US$35M investment into Linmine, Jagdeo said that he had not received any word following their recent board meeting. He is hoping that the managers would have been able to convince their investors to go ahead with the project. The investors had been concerned about the unrest that followed the water and power crisis in Linden when Omai had to shut down its operations because a key access road was blocked.
Another issue looked at was the Linden Television Station. The Linbridge committee had put forward a proposal for the complete ownership of the station but this was rejected outright. Jagdeo said that Channel 13 was given as a gift to the town and it may be returned to the ownership of the town as a public company. A board is likely to be set up which would comprise government officials and members of the Linden area. Channel 8 would be solely the property of the government.