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There seems to have been a recent upsurge of visits by Government Ministers to various communities across the country and on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, visited Eldorado, West Coast Berbice to, as she put it, “identify what level of support government could provide to residents of that community and whether new training programmes could be established there.” Upon arrival, Ms. Parag complained that she was blocked by Opposition Member of Parliament, Vinceroy Jordan, and the Chair of the Community Development Council (CDC) Julian David from accessing the Belladrum Community Centre building.
Now, let me pellucidly state that as a government functionary, Ms. Parag ought not to be debarred from performing her duties. Whether the report is true or false, I cannot say for sure since I am told that the incident is being investigated. That apart, I could not help chuckling to myself and muttering that old Guyanese idiom “do suh, nah like suh!”
The Honorable Minister must be suffering from amnesia since such behavior is not by any means isolated. Ms. Parag could not have possibly forgotten a similar incident on September 19, 2019, when an unruly, menacing mob, led by Irfan Ali, at the Pegasus Hotel, attacked Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karen Cummings, and then blocked and attempted to overturn her vehicle!
During the life of the last government, political hooliganism was birthed and encouraged by then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. His gaslighting rhetoric and deep-seated abhorrence for his political opponents are incomparable yet I cannot remember hearing a similar outcry from Ms. Parag.
It seems like Ms. Parag is indeed suffering from a serious case of amnesia. How else can one describe her deafening silence upon hearing the instructions of her Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo to his supporters at an event at Babu John in March 2019 to “chase government officials out of their communities?” Has she forgotten the vile disrespect meted out by her colleagues to President David Granger in parliament and also at the Pegasus Hotel? What kind of hypocrisy is that Ms. Parag, that you can pointedly ignore the aforementioned incidents while attempting to establish a bona fide case for yourself?
Now, before you regard my concerns as blatantly deprecatory, let me clearly state that the villagers welcome governmental support to our developmental agenda at Belladrum. What we reject is a self-centered approach that blatantly and disrespectfully restricts the input of the elected community leaders. Consequently, it behooves Minister Parag to engage the NDC in the proposed project since this body is an important stakeholder and should not be ignored. The CDC’s involvement is also unavoidable especially since the building in contention is under its administration.
The PPP operatives at the local level have persistently shown scant regard for the leadership of the NDC and CDC thus compromising any commendable joint efforts for improved, and I daresay, effective collaboration.
If Minister Parag is sincerely interested in addressing the concerns of the villagers, she must demonstrate a genuine attempt so to do. Firstly, she must abandon party triumphalism while procuring the requisite information that instigates a thorough understanding of stakeholder management. This will improve her chances of deepening the trust and respect of the citizens of Belladrum.
The Minister should also seek meaningful engagement with community leaders which can serve to deepen the trust between the villagers and her government, thus paving the way for a clearer understanding and appreciation of the community development priorities.
Minister Parag should be advised that continued engagement of sycophants, self-serving villagers, and party loyalists will only serve to deepen, rather than resolve existing differences among the two factions. One classical example is the Belladrum Secondary School Ground Improvement Project, a harebrained initiative obviously proposed by self-serving individuals. Even a surreptitious glance will endorse the wide-held view that this ground is incapable of accommodating a regulation-size football or cricket field. A more suitable venue would have been the community ground at Paradise Village. Had her colleague minister, Charles Ramson, Jr consulted with the appropriate stakeholders he would have been better advised.
Finally, it is important that Minister Parag understand the political sensitivity, coupled with the indomitable spirit of the people of Belladrum since such knowledge would guide her interactions and by extension her modus operandi in effectively dealing with community-related matters. It is also advisable that she be tactful in her interaction with the community as only then will she be able to override trust issues thus paving the way for cordial interactions with villagers. Should she contemplate doing otherwise, she will be met with formidable resistance which in the end will be nothing short of counterproductive.
