March 12, 2016 Source

President David Granger has local government elections (LGE) advice for the voting public: “Choose persons you trust to run your communities.”

Asked on this week’s edition of “The Public Interest,” which was broadcast last evening, what he would tell members of the public who may be thinking of staying home on March 18, the President chose to stress the impact the elections would have on communities.

The local government elections are more important than last year’s general and regional elections, he said, “Because they affect you in your communities. All politics is local. Once you step out of your door you are in the realm of local government and everything that affects whether it’s is garbage collection or fighting the Zika virus will be implemented by your local authority.”

The President added that if residents “do not take control of their communities, they will suffer the consequences of poor management at which point they will have no one but [themselves] to blame.” He said his government has and will continue to meet the commitment to hold LGE every three years.

The polls, which will be run off on March 18, are being held for the first time since 1994. They are due to be held every three, according to the country’s constitution.

Granger said he would like to see strong neighbourhoods and communities as they are essential to the implementation of his five ‘Es’ economic plan. This plan intends to foster economic development through Education, Empowerment, Employment, Equity and Enterprise in each community.

LGE, he stressed, are a springboard for economic development as they will enhance the economic capabilities of each community and empower local organs to support small community enterprises, which will act as the basis for the creation of larger manufacturing-based industries in Guyana.

Strong mayors and other local authority heads can independently invite people to come into their communities and invest.

“When you read about a mayor in the US, they are powerful. I want to see strong mayors and municipalities so that investors could be invited by strong communities to come in and create jobs. Even members of the diaspora, who wish to invest, can be invited to invest not just in their country but in their specific communities. We now have too much reliance on the central government, where everyone is waiting for the minister to do this or that,” Granger said.

The President, however, acknowledged that a role exists for central government in fostering investment and community enterprise development.

He noted that government will not be getting involved in private entrepreneurial activity but will be attracting investors by creating a landscape where investors will feel safe.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will concentrate its efforts on opening markets for Guyanese products in the Caribbean and beyond, the Ministry of Public Security has been charged with creating a “heightened sense of security” and the Ministry of Finance is looking to reform the tax regime.

According to the President, the combined efforts of these ministries as well as the Ministry of Business, will enable Guyanese communities to maximise all of their comparative advantages.

Asked how his government sees diverse and differentiated products developing when many community-based enterprises in Guyana are agriculture-based, Granger noted that there are already several diverse enterprises existing and scope exists for more to be developed.

Bartica, which is near to timber producing areas, can produce furniture for export. There is also scope for jewellery production at the artisan level,” he said, before adding that several small community-based tourism experiences already exist and are being competently administered.

He stressed the need for communities to create and utilise networks and promised significant improvement in public infrastructure to make it easier for raw materials and products to be transported around the country.

“All development does not have to be state sponsored. Producer associations can undertake activities such as expositions, which will bring them into contact with other businesses with resources they may need. Most manufacturing depends on networks and these associations are essential to the building of networks,” he said.