Region 5 holds uninterrupted statutory meeting

After several months

The Regional Democrat Council (RDC) of Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) on Thursday held its first uninterrupted statutory meeting for 2016 after several months of disruptions.
The meeting was well attended and received full participation from both sides, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC). During the meeting, several recommendations were made which if implemented could see improvements in many communities.
The RDC is recommending that Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) spend their subvention wisely and that they seek technical assistance from the Regional Administration to carry out their mandate.
Following Thursday’s meeting, the Regional Administration is to pursue the possibility of having refresher programmes for property evaluators so they can once again evaluate properties in the region, allowing NDCs to be able to collect property tax which reflects the value of the property on the land.
In January this year the coalition APNU/AFC began to disrupt the statutory meetings, demanding that Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal apologise to President David Granger for not attending a function in the region earlier in the month, at which Granger was the guest of honour.
None of the statutory meetings thereafter were possible as the coalition councillors disrupted all of them insisting that Ramphal makes an apology.
However delivering an Emancipation address in the region on August 1, President Granger called on the RDC councillors to work together for the betterment of the region. Afterwards both parties symbolically reconciled with an embrace.
Following Thursday’s (August 19) meeting, Ramphal told Guyana Times that he is happy the council can move forward so that the people of Region Five can benefit from the services that the RDC offers.
Meanwhile, coalition Councillor Abel Seetaram said he is happy to see that representatives of both parties want to see the region move forward: “I am very appreciative as a councillor that after the impasse we had that we can come together now and move the Region forward, so I am very happy about that.” (Andrew Carmichael)