-leaving VP’s Public Day outreach with matters settled
Residents across Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) left Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo’s Public Day outreach with land applications approved, drainage works scheduled and long-running community concerns resolved in a single sitting.
The outreach was held on Friday at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) head office in Fort Wellington, where thousands of residents attended to voice their issues and concerns.
A fourth-generation rice farmer, Salim Razack, came to the outreach with an application for land for rice farming.
After meeting with the vice president and the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, he said he felt a sense of relief.
“He gave me a positive response and an assurance that I will get the necessary help that I need in the future,” he told the Department of Public Information (DPI) in an interview, stating that “I am so happy and pleased that I came here today and got my matter resolved.”
When asked to comment on the initiative, Razack said it usually takes him a trip to Georgetown, which normally costs him a day away from the back dam.
With the outreach brought to the region, he came in from the farm, met officials, and had his concerns addressed the same afternoon.
“I think the government should continue this approach…so that more farmers can benefit in the way I benefited,” he said.
Community leader Devon Saul brought a road and drainage problem on behalf of his scheme and left with a firm timeline.
By Monday (June 15, 2026), he said, representatives from the relevant authorities will be in his community to start work.
He urged residents to turn out whenever the government visits and put their needs directly to officials.
“Don’t only come out when the opposition leader comes,” he said. “Come out when the government comes and challenge them and see what they could give you,” Saul encouraged.
Others pointed to the tone of the engagement as much as the results. Kumar Persaud said the sitting stood out because everyone was heard and decisions were made “consciously, not with emotion.”
Another resident, Nizam Ramkissoon, praised the one-on-one access to Vice President 7 Jagdeo and ministers, noting the outreach came well outside any election period and describing it as the way government should work.
“This is what we need to, and we are supporting,” he expressed.