of

Essence
Essequibo
Land of
freedom
takes shape
WHEN Prime Minister Sam Hinds sat in stunning,
stony silence in Parliament on July 22 last, the
deafening echo resonated across the country to the
town of Anna Regina and villages of Essequibo.
Essequibo lies picture perfect under the warm sun, presenting a landscape of
breathtaking beauty, of serene sweetness, to the world. Its vast green acres of flat
rice land, its winding, mysterious rivers, its hugging of the Atlantic Ocean,
create a space of exquisite natural charm. Stabroek News travels its coast to feel
its pulse, to write about the people of this haven of nature.
pictures by Arian Browne stories by Shaun Michael Samaroo
POMEROON PRIDE: Charity houses this Supercenter, a modern,
dazzling sign of the new times in Essequibo
STABROEK NEWS, Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Page 3A
by Shaun Michael
Samaroo
ESSEQUIBO feels
free, open, wide, leafy
green. Its land, snug-
gled on the bank of the
mud-churning Atlantic
Ocean behind aged, grey
concrete walls and treed
mud dams; its rivers,
curling across the land-
scape; its vast, fat green
acres oI rice felds,
plowed with the bare
soles of rugged farmers
of skin tough and hard
from bending strong
backs under broiling
sun; its bright blue sun-
ny yellow open sky; its
tall coconut trees waving
dark green palms in the
high air: these make for
a world of rugged wide-
open freedom.
That rugged free-
dom tips over into raw
fouting oI the law.
Thats the story of this
land. Theres a kind of
unanchored magic, a
sort of dreamy unreality,
to the place, a discon-
nection from structured
order. The Cinderella
County could be a
foating Iairytale king-
dom belonging to a lord
of the land. In fact, vast
miles and miles, endless
acres of farmland, be-
long to a few landlords.
These lords of the land
rent to poor farmers,
who plant rice.
Last year, Essequi-
bo farmers reaped two
million bags of rice
paddy, the largest yield
in the Countys history.
Essequibo embodies the
Guyana Dream, the idea
that this massive South
American landmass
could be the breadbasket
of the Caribbean.
The Coast drops off
at the Pomeroon River,
channeling inland, run-
ning towards Venezuela
and the Guyana hinter-
land, branching off into
strange exotic places
like Waini and Barima.
All along the rivers
fertile bank people make
their homes, and culti-
vate the Pomeroon land.
Family farms dot the
length of the river.
When these hinter-
land dwellers travel to
the Essequibo Coast,
powering small light-
ning-fast speedboats
to the Essequibo town
of Charity, where raw
commerce belies the
towns name, they come
searching for a better
life.
Deep, ageless, the
dark brown Pomeroon
River ripples calm,
peaceful at the western
edge of the Essequibo
Coast. The Coast hugs
the River in a tumultu-
ous embrace of rugged
commerce. Hinterland
residents power their
way skimming the river
to Charity to hawk farm-
fresh fruits and vege-
tables, and to shop for
modern consumer goods
and appliances.
Their soaring craft
pulls up at an ancient
makeshift landing at
Charity, and setting foot
on the coast, the solid
land, becomes an act full
of promise and poten-
tial. Boat passengers
stumble upon a strange
sight facing them as they
disembark on land: a
massive fve-story mod-
ern glass-front building
rising from the dilap-
idated ruggedness of
the undeveloped hinter-
land, refecting the blue
sky in its glass walls,
towering over them.
Here they could shop
at the air-conditioned
supercentre, housing a
modern supermarket on
the ground foor, and
climb to higher foors
where they could buy
fat-screen TVs and im-
ported electrical appli-
ances, and all manner of
electronic goods.
This shiny super-
centre building, the most
modern, dazzling struc-
ture in all of Essequibo,
belongs to Alfro Al-
phonso, who made vast
wealth from mining gold
and diamonds in the hin-
terland, and extracting
coconut oil from palm
felds in the Pomeroon,
exporting millions of
US$ worth of coconut
oil to world markets.
Employing 600
people in Essequibo and
the Pomeroon oil mills,
Alphonso now stands
as the biggest private
sector employer in
Essequibo. So massive
is his business that his
companys electricity
bill alone amounts to
$8 million a month. He
also owns Essequibos
only TV transmitting
station, and invests
heavily in Georgetown,
thus becoming a major
player in the Guyanese
economy.
Essequibos stun-
ning natural beauty, raw,
tamed under the hard-
ened hands of tough-
skinned rice farmers
who handle tractors
and combines with deft
skill, throws open an
invitation of freedom
to its people. Its people
grasp that freedom with
zeal and passion to the
extent that it becomes
unbridled, unhindered
by laws and organized
structure.
The story of an
Army base along the
Pomeroon river set up
to plug fuel smuggling
from Venezuela illus-
trates this launching of
Essequibos freedom
into the domain of
unrestrained economic
practice, of the virtue of
Raw freedom
SCENIC LANDSCAPE: Te main roadway in Essequibo ofers a scenic drive through lush rice felds, luxurious coconut trees, and the liquid fow of
rivers. Sheep, goats, cattle and horses graze contented along the roadway, and the pleasant breeze and bright open sunshine evokes a soulful peace.
Page 4A STABROEK NEWS, Wednesday, July 31 2013
raw commerce overcom-
ing the virtue of keeping
the law.
Residents whisper
under their breath that
they suspect fuel smug-
gling escalated after the
base took its position,
because smugglers feel
protected and shielded.
Why? Because sharing
is a good thing, one
guy sporting dark glass-
es, said with a knowing
wink.
He was hawking
goods in the hot sun.
Such euphemism masks
the turbulence of the
under-current churning
below the surface of
calmness prevailing on
the Coast. The feeling of
freedom soars without
restraint, but people stay
grounded. The Countys
people embody a yearn-
ing passion for personal
material development.
People embrace the
freedom of the land with
zest, tackling challenges
with creative energy.
They want the best the
modern world offers,
and they become willing
to engage in commerce
without restraint to
achieve their passions
and desires.
With their TV
station transmitting
glamour lifestyles of
developed countries into
their living rooms, Esse-
quibos residents know
the trends of the global
village, and want to
embrace those lifestyles.
Now they dress in mod-
ern, fashionable styles,
and, in fact, hawking
imported designer
clothes at Charity makes
for big commerce.
Charity houses a
vibrant, bustling mar-
ket, akin to markets
all across the country:
goods displayed with
scant regard for order
- on the ground, over
drains, on roadways,
hung for loud display on
parked buses, trucks and
cars, strung decorating
the fence of the stelling.
The market serves as
a commercial hub, as
disorganized and ancient
as it looks, for business
networking between
hinterland residents and
coastal entrepreneurs.
People travel to
Charity from all of Esse-
quibo to hawk imported
goods: clothes, applianc-
es, and just about any-
thing a modern house-
hold desires. The town
networks the hinterland
with the coast.
But it also opens the
country to the freedom
of access to Venezu-
ela, and other places,
including Colombia and
Bolivia.
Illegal trade between
Venezuela and Charity
makes Ior signifcant
commerce, and much of
it happens with unbri-
dled freedom. Charity,
below the surface, oper-
ates as a free trade zone,
with gas, oil, rice, gold,
diamond and a host of
other high-value goods
traded through this
gateway to and from the
hinterland, to and from
Venezuela.
Residents talk of
it all, some with open
disdain, others with deep
admiration, but all with
acceptance as the way
of the world, as unstop-
pable, and as the natural
way Charity functions.
Essequibos free,
wide, open land, and its
isolated winding remote
rivers, linking vast inner
reaches of South Ameri-
ca, and its dense shad-
owy forests where much
happens under cover
of foliage, shapes its
people to push beyond
the limiting structures,
the stultifying walls, the
bureaucratic laws, that
hinder commerce, trade
and accumulation of
personal wealth. In that
unrestrained freedom,
the people of Essequibo
search for a way to ful-
fll their desires desires
they develop from TV
bringing the world to
their living rooms.
Yet, its one thing
for the people of Esse-
quibo to push beyond
their limitations in seek-
ing their own self-de-
velopment. Its quite
another matter when
they feel their Govern-
ment tramples on their
own freedom.
In village after
village, in town after
town, people express a
resigned passivity, born
of frustrated seething
anger, that Neighbour-
hood Democratic Coun-
cils lack power, ethics
and management ability
to govern Essequibo
communities.
In the freedom they
embrace with so much
passion, they want to
know that they hold
power over their own
destiny, in how they
shape their local society,
in their ability to man-
age their affairs without
Central Government
control.
With no local
government election
in Essequibo in two
decades, people feel
they cannot count on the
authorities to look after
their society, to organize
their future.
They simply take
matters into their own
hands, building their
lives the way they feel
works best, fouting re-
straints, embracing full
freedom.
The spirit of the
land soars free, open,
and ready to embrace
the future of its dreams.
GHQHVODQG
ANNA REGINA: Tis town slumbers in a
village atmosphere, refusing to adopt the
trappings of a modern urban centre.
STABROEK NEWS, Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Page 5A
WHEN Prime Min-
ister Sam Hinds sat in
stunning stony silence
in Parliament on July
22 last, the deafening
echo resonated across
the country to the town
of Anna Regina and the
villages of Essequibo.
Prime Minister
Hinds was refusing to re-
spond to House Speaker
Raphael Trotman, who
asked the Prime Minister
if he would open debate
in the Assembly on cru-
cial local government
bills.
Local Government
Minister Ganga Persaud
had just refused to re-
spond to the Speaker on
the question of the local
government bills. As
stunned Members of Par-
liament looked on, as the
Speaker became speech-
less in obvious shock,
Minister Persaud and
Prime Minister Hinds
sat in silence, ignoring
the question concerning
holding local govern-
ment elections.
The local govern-
ment bills never saw
the light of day in Par-
liament, and now sit on
shelves in limbo. They
would hopefully be res-
urrected at some future
sitting of Parliament. Put
off for two decades, cit-
izens now have to wait
until next year for local
polls.
Despite urgent calls
for local government
elections from the Dip-
lomatic community, de-
spite rhetoric from Gov-
ernment that local polls
must be of urgent pri-
ority, despite the Oppo-
sitions claim that local
community elections are
crucial, despite villages
and communities across
the country suffering
from lack of effective
local government, Prime
Minister Hinds and Lo-
cal Government Minister
Persaud both remained
silent, allowing the bills
to fall off the agenda of
the House.
People in Anna Re-
gina feel the effect of
that Prime Ministerial
silence. In fact, across
Essequibo, Guyanese
complain about the state
of their villages, and of
the towns of the County.
People want to see freely
and fairly elected local
government in place, and
for democracy to play its
role in their daily lives.
Anna Regina, a dry,
dusty, sleepy town, slum-
bers midway between
Supenaam and Charity
on the Essequibo Coast.
Declared a township
in 1970, Anna Regina
comprises 18 other vil-
lages in its immediate
environ.
These form the
township, and the capital
of the Pomeroon-Supe-
naam region. The place
resembles nothing like a
town, or a capital. Rath-
er, it comes across to the
uninitiated visitor as a
backwater village of se-
vere inconsequence.
Even its fagship, the
bronze, life-size Damon
Statue, which commem-
orates Damon, who was
hanged in 1834 for his
efforts to secure social
justice, stands dilapidat-
ed and bedraggled in the
Damon Square outside
the Anna Regina munic-
ipal oIfce.
Inside the front yard
oI the municipal oIfce,
a garbage truck and a
bulldozer sit idle. Since
Central Government
awarded garbage collec-
tion contracts to a private
frm, Puran Brothers, the
municipality no longer
needs to pick up garbage.
So its truck sits idle, of
no use.
In fact, Central Gov-
ernment disbanded the
Anna Regina Mayor and
Town Council.
The town no longer
has a Mayor. Govern-
ment installed an Interim
Management Commit-
tee, whose Chairman,
Tulsi Narine, cannot be
Iound in an oIfce at the
municipality oIfce, as he
only appears for Council
meetings.
Efforts to ascertain
how the Interim Man-
agement Committee was
installed, and how its
members were chosen,
proved futile.
The Committee
seems to have been im-
posed on the town, with
the process of its ap-
pointment a shadowy
mystery.
The municipality
drafted its annual budget
of $86 million, but sourc-
es say chances of collect-
ing that in rates and taxes
are slim. Property rates
and taxes are so cheap.
We need to reform the
valuations for property,
as most property owners
pay a few hundred dol-
lars a year, one source
said.
The Minister of Lo-
cal Government installed
the Management Com-
mittee, labeled interim
but lacking a time-frame
for its work, after mem-
bers of the Mayor and
Town Council quit for
various reasons. With
no elections for two de-
cades, the Mayor and
Town Council gradu-
ally died. The Minister
stepped in to install Na-
rine and his management
team.
Diane Critchlow,
the municipalitys Town
Clerk, who served the
Anna Regina town for
28 years, said local
government elections are
needed. The impact on
residents of Anna Regi-
na would be major, and
positive.
One resident of the
town said the Manage-
ment Committee lacks
credibility in the eyes of
town folks.
Many residents of
the town dont recog-
nize the Committee. The
Chairman only shows up
for meetings, and resi-
dents feel they have no
recourse to the powers
that be.
The Ministrys sub-
vention to the town of
nine million dollars falls
far short of the budget
needs, especially with
rates and taxes collec-
tion bringing in less than
half of the budget esti-
mate. Roads, bridges
and so on that fall within
the ambit of the munici-
pality, cannot be main-
tained, the source said.
Over at Charity, the
bustling commercial
centre of Essequibo,
linking the hinterland
and the Coast, suffers
even worse fortunes
from lack of local gov-
ernment elections.
The tiny building
serving as the oIfce
of the Neighbourhood
Democratic Council
stays locked most days,
with two padlocks on a
steel grill door.
The sign in front of
the building, faded and
dismal, is the only indi-
cation that local govern-
ment exists.
Two business ex-
ecutives in the town
lamented the state of
affairs, nothing the hap-
hazard way the commer-
cial zone functions, with
vendors erecting stalls
over drains, garbage
strewn about, and the at-
mosphere exuding an air
of disorder and chaos.
Residents said the
Minister of Local Gov-
ernment and other Gov-
ernment oIfcials met
with them, and with
business owners, and
received reports of the
state of governance in
the town. So far, we see
no action one year after
meeting, one man said.
Throughout the
Coast, the impact of this
stubborn lack of local
government elections
shows up in the quality
of life of the people, and
in the quality of public
spaces. People want to
know they can have re-
course to a village coun-
cil, to a Mayor and coun-
cilors in Essequibos
towns.
However, when the
matter fnally came up
in Parliament, the Prime
Minister and the Minis-
ter of Local Government
remained silent, refusing
to take action to ensure
local government elec-
tions took place soon, as
the Government and Op-
position both promised
citizens.
Residents of Anna
Regina, Charity, Supe-
naam, and the people
of Essequibo, continue
waiting for the political
power that governs their
lives in the National As-
sembly, this central po-
litical force that governs
from Georgetown, two
massive rivers away in
Demerara, to speak up
for them.
So long as silence
prevails, their local com-
munities would continue
to suffer from lack of lo-
cal democracy, from the
dictatorship of mysteri-
ous Management Com-
mittee appointments, and
from a Prime Minister
and a Local Government
Minister who refuse to
speak up on their behalf
when the problem of
their local communities
come up for debate in
their Parliament.
PMs silence
echoes
Charity, the bustling commercial centre
of Essequibo, linking the hinterland and
the Coast, suffers even worse fortunes from
lack of local government elections
NO COMMENT:
Prime Minister Sam
Hinds pictured in
Parliament
Page 6A STABROEK NEWS, Wednesday, July 31, 2013