Judging by appearances, the Whim/ Bloomfield Neighbourhood has achieved much in terms of infrastructural development but residents of the four-village community do not think so.
The community is probably one of the most environmentally friendly neighbourhoods visited to date and there is a growing awareness of the safe disposal of garbage. But residents of the neighbourhood, which is found in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), complained of flooding, poor construction of road, cleaning of drains and trenches and corruption.
When compared with other neighbourhoods and local authorities along the coastal belt, Whim/Bloomfield is small. It encompasses the villages of Bloomfield, Letter Kenny, the private estate of Auchlyne and Whim.
Whim, a former cotton plantation, is the largest of the communities with a population of about 2,000. The other villages put together account for another 2,000 residents.
When Stabroek News arrived at Whim last Monday morning, residents spoke about "sub-standard" construction of roads and poor drainage. No one recalled that just eight years ago, the roads were all mud dams and the village used to be flooded for weeks at a time.
It was amusing to hear an aging couple - a husband and wife - argue about the state of affairs at Bloomfield. The wife complained about the road on which she stood, which was made of burnt brick. But her husband reminded her that just five or six years ago she had to walk on mud dams during the dry season and could not walk about at all during the wet season because of the slippery state of the road.
In places where there had been a "plank" for a bridge, wooden bridges have been built. But some of these bridges were a cause for concern for some residents who felt that better bridges could have been built.
Some residents at Whim felt that conditions are better at Bloomfield and Letter Kenny because Chairman of the NDC, Mustapha Rahaman and the PPP/C Member of Parliament and PPP/C regional supervisor lives there.
Chairman Rahaman
Rahaman recalled that when his then 18-member council took office in 1994 the infrastructure "was deplorable. People could not walk the streets during the rainy season. Cars could not go inside the villages. The whole infrastructure was breaking down."
From then to now, he said even though the many persons elected to serve have left the council, "the fact remains that we concentrated on how best we could push development for the people."
The first thing the council started to do "was to build the streets. After the streets we started to put some emphasis on the cultivation areas. There we dug out the middle walks to encourage the flow of irrigation water and clean the sideline dams for drainage. We pushed for drainage and irrigation in such a way to improve farming and make life easier for people in the residential areas. That was the situation before we took over."
The Neighbourhood Democratic Council
The council has been reduced to just four... the bare quorum. Rahaman said: "We glad if local government elections could be held now. It would be better for us."
He said he would be glad if in the interim the Guyana Elections Commission could fill the 14 vacancies on the council. "Let new people join the council so there could have better discussions so we can move on with business with greater representation." This does not hide the fact though that "we need local government elections."
On the last occasion two groups contested the local government elections in the neighbourhood, the People Helping People (PHP) led by local psychologist, Dr Veerasammy Ramaya and the PPP/C led by Rahaman. The PHP got five seats and the PPP/C 13 seats.
The five PHP councillors and nine others from the PPP/C all stopped attending meetings for one reason or another and their seats became vacant. They have not been filled since. Rahaman said: "They do not show any interest. Some felt they could not take a day off from their work place to attend meetings or to deal with the council's business... they just could not find time to do voluntary service. Some have migrated."
Asked how the council managed with a depleted council, Rahaman said, "In life sometimes you get pressured sometimes the pressure is less. That is life."
When told that residents have accused the council of corrupt practices such as budgeting for a project and then undercutting the budget to suit an individual's pocket, Rahaman said, "People would say that God is unfair. There are no facts to prove allegations of corruption."
One resident has alleged that when the council budgets for nine truckloads of sand to build up the streets, in reality only six truckloads of sand would be laid on the street. A similar occurrence, he said, took place for the purchase of bricks.
He also claims that the plastic tubing placed in the northern section of Whim to aid in drainage has burst and was not serving the purpose it was intended for. He said when it rains, the place floods quickly.
When asked how he would rate his term in office, Rahaman, who is the holder of the Golden Arrow of Achievement and worked in the sugar industry for 50 years, said he has found the task challenging. But he has worked and has seen some successes. He does not mind contesting the upcoming local government elections once more but feels there is need for more commitment on the part of persons contesting the elections.
Rahaman, first as a teenager, worked as a labourer in the `Creole Gang' in the fields before he moved to the factory as a porter at Port Mourant. He was an active member of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) as well as the Guyana Rice Producers' Association.
The NDC building
Back in May 1996 when Stabroek News visited Whim, the building that housed the local authority office, the community centre, a health centre and a pavilion on the fringes of the sports ground was in a dilapidated state. Some renovation has taken place but not enough for a complete transformation.
The NDC has also donated a piece of land on the edge of the community centre ground for the nursery school. The area has just one nursery and primary school. The primary school is located at Auchlyne.
The sports ground is completely fenced so that what looked like a pasture for cattle eight years ago now caters to the recreational needs of the people in the community, Overseer of the NDC, Pooran Ramsarran said. The ground, which had many holes, was upgraded. However, some residents claimed that the community centre ground is usually locked so that residents, especially the young people, do not benefit from the facilities there.
The community centre ground is popular for the game of cricket and among its well-known cricketers are West Indies Test player Mahendra Nagamootoo and his brother Vishal.
This year the NDC has budgeted to paint the community centre, repair all the windows and further upgrade the pavilion.
Rates and taxes
The NDC has increased rates and taxes this year, for the first time in many years. Last year the NDC collected just about 25% of rates and taxes in the four communities. Rahaman said the NDC was not collecting rates and taxes in the cultivation areas because many landowners had left the country and those who were still farming were not paying. They were also not cleaning the trenches and dams and the council spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to dig and clean them. "We are not collecting back the type of money or returns," [for the service provided], he said.
He noted that the NDC collects approximately 90% of rates and taxes in the residential area for house lots and houses. The rates depend on the location of the properties in the villages. The non-payment of rates and taxes in the cultivation areas lowers the rates and taxes.
It was noted that the Auchlyne estate alone owes the NDC some $18 million in arrears in rates and taxes. Asked what the council was doing to collect on this debt, Rahaman said the NDC and its lawyers were in discussions with the estate on the matter to see how it could be resolved. The Scottish Congregational Church governs the Auchlyne Estate. The estate benefits from drainage and has an obligation to the council for other services provided.
The Letter Kenny Housing Coopera-tive also owes the council. The NDC's lawyers have served the cooperative with notices on the arrears, but there has been no response. Rahaman said the council might have to take that matter to court. The council is trying to collect its dues from those who owe big sums of money. "The smaller men are paying their rates but the bigger men do not want to. They owe the council a lot of money."
It was noted that the payment of rates and taxes has always been poor. In 1996 Stabroek News reported that the collection of rates and taxes for the previous year was 29% of what was owed. At the time overseer Pooran Ramsarran had said that 71% of the people did not pay rates and taxes but wanted improved services. Government's subvention, which has remained the same over the past eight years, was inadequate for the number of plans and programmes needed to move the communities forward at a faster rate, it was said.
Council's budget
The budget is some $28 million, the same as last year. In spite of complaints by residents that Whim was neglected in favour of the other villages, Rahaman said that of the government subvention and the rates and taxes collected "Whim gets 50% of the council's spending. The reason is because the population of Whim is bigger. It has more streets than the others and we give consideration to that. Therefore Whim gets 50% of the cake." He called on his overseer, who lives in Whim to verify this statement.
This year, he said, 3,000 rods of dams would be bulldozed for farmers to access their farms. One will be bulldozed at Letter Kenny, another at Bloomfield and the other at Whim. This work has already been contracted out. This project is not being funded from the government subvention, but representation was made to the national Drainage and Irrigation Board for an extra $3 million for works in the cultivation areas. Work began last year but was not completed and the council terminated that contract.
The council will also install more tubing for its drainage and irrigation programme in addition to the one already installed at Whim. One will be installed at Bloomfield and the other at Letter Kenny.
The council also plans to build two footpaths of burnt earth; one at Chand's Dam at Bloomfield and one leading to the rice field dam at Letter Kenny. The council, he said, would not make broad roads on the dams because tractors and other heavy-duty vehicles passing through will destroy them.
The footpaths will be for school children to get to and from school. There is a plan also to build a bridge over the Whim/Auchlyne trench to accommodate children from Whim attending school in Auchlyne.