Government and citizens working together for a better Guyana

The Vice President and the Cabinet engaged citizens on May 11 in an exercise to address concerns and to find solutions to difficulties citizens face. The clueless Azruddin Mohamed and his WIN party portrayed the outreach at the Convention Centre as disgruntled citizens confronting and berating the Government for incompetency and discrimination. The opposition alleged that people showed up at the Convention Centre crying out against the small contract initiative as corrupt and intended only for friends and family of Ministers. They completely ignored the truth that people seized the opportunity for the Government and the people to work together to find ways to make a “good programme better”.
Citizens who attended the outreach on Monday with VP Bharrat Jagdeo reported that their problems were solved and their concerns addressed or that a mechanism was put in place to address them. Participating citizens essentially rejected the opposition’s claim that people came out to berate the Government. Far from it, people continue to value a Government that is always accessible and available to address concerns and find solutions to citizens’ everyday problems.
Bringing Government to the people is synonymous with the PPP. Cheddi Jagan pioneered bringing the Government to citizens after democracy was restored in independent Guyana in October 1992, insisting that Government must go to the people. President Bharrat Jagdeo, between 1999 and 2011, ensured that the Government was with the people where they live every day by bringing the Cabinet meetings into the communities across Guyana. Today, President Irfaan Ali is ensuring that Government is with the people, ensuring “Government lives where the people live”.
This past weekend, President Irfaan Ali engaged the diaspora in Canada. Wherever the Guyanese diaspora can be found, whether it was President Cheddi Jagan, President Bharrat Jagdeo or now President Irfaan Ali, PPP Presidents and Cabinets have sought them out. PPP Presidents have brought Guyana’s Governments to the people wherever they live, in and out of Guyana.
Even as President Ali concluded his visit to Canada, where he also met Prime Minister Carney, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was meeting with Guyanese citizens at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre in Georgetown. Hundreds showed up to meet with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, other Cabinet members and senior Government officials. For Azruddin Mohamed, the only reason citizens came out in numbers is that Government is not working. For citizens, it was an opportunity to work with Government for more effective governance.
For example, for the first time, cash grants were made possible through an online, digital portal. Almost 300,000 people aged 18 years and older have accessed their $100,000 cash grants through a digital facility with their cash grant deposited directly into their accounts. For many Guyanese, this was a welcome change from previous distributions where people had to make long lines, spending hours at various distribution sites.
But the online, digital registration process was not smooth for everyone. Some persons had to spend hours and days and only succeeded after multiple attempts. A small group tried, failed and gave up. At the Convention Centre engagement with VP Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday, May 11, some of these persons showed up. They did not come to complain; they came seeking solutions to their problems with trying to access their cash grant online. Everyone who came seeking solutions to their problem of registering for their cash grant online was able to find solutions, most relating that it took no more than five minutes to resolve their registration problems. This is truly bringing Government to the people, ensuring solutions emerge.
The cash grant digital system has largely worked, even if it’s not perfect. It is the same with other digital portals that have been introduced in Guyana. Far from failure, Guyana has entered the modern world, even if not perfectly. Azruddin sees failure; citizens see a Government working for the people and the country.
Everywhere in the world ordinary citizens face routine problems, and it seems Government “doesn’t work for them”. The PPP leaders recognise that despite their best intentions, Government services often disappoint people. PPP Presidents accept that Government services sometimes are not responsive to people’s needs. Taking the Government to people is one of the strategies PPP Presidents have utilised so that as far as possible the everyday issues people face are dealt with.
The PPP campaigned to ensure that small contractors get an opportunity to participate in the rapid development taking place in Guyana. President Irfaan Ali, VP Bharrat Jagdeo, PM Mark Phillips and the Cabinet created opportunities for small contractors to apply for small projects up to $15M. This prevents these small contractors from bidding and facing unfair competition from bigger contractors. Thousands of Guyanese have benefited from this programme. In order to improve transparency and accountability, the PPP Government decided to introduce a registration system for small contractors and to ensure that all legitimate small contractors get at least one contract.
By far, it appears that this was a major reason people showed up to engage VP Bharrat Jagdeo and the Cabinet. VP Bharrat Jagdeo explained that despite Government’s efforts, the small contract initiative has faced problems. Naturally, people would seize the opportunity to gain an unfair advantage. Some persons register all adult members of their families as independent contractors. How Government determine whether every member of a family is a legitimate contractor or whether several contracts are obtained by a single person through different names has become an issue. The Government has taken an approach to reduce and eliminate unfair practices. At the Convention Centre outreach, clearly this was a major issue the Government tried to address. This is how Government must work.
But for Azruddin Mohamed and WIN, the only reason hundreds showed up was to register their disgust. Actually, people showed up because they believe their Government cares and that they were participating to improve Government services.