By Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

Dear Editor,​

I was reading with much interest an initiative being touted by the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development regarding the establishment of a Dashboard by that Ministry to help officials track complaints from residents.

The Minister is quoted as saying “We are currently examining building out a dashboard where we could see centrally and locally where the complaints are… not only to see what they are but to make sure that they are resolved effectively.” Newsroom.gy/2025/09/24/local-govt-ministry-examines-new-dashboard-to-monitor-resolve-complaints/ Let me be the first to commend the Minister on what is an innovative initiative and if properly implemented, can bring about measurable change to the lives of Guyanese citizens. This initiative should have been rolled out ages ago but better late than never!

It is my hope that similar dashboards will be made mandatory across all government agencies and Ministries where the citizens of this country can make complaints when various government services fall below the required standard, and can receive timely feedback on these complaints. His Excellency has been quite clear that information communication technologies (ICT) are of paramount importance to the developmental trajectory of this nation and in this regard, dashboards implemented across the public service will play a critical role in ensuring accountability on the part of government officials as well as ensuring that services to the citizens of Guyana are improved.

For way too long, governance, particularly at the local level has been found severely wanting; Regional Executive Officers, Regional Education Officers, Regional Health Officers, District Deve-lopment Officers, Community Develop-ment Officers, Overseers and NDC Chairpersons often seem to work independently of Ministerial oversight, and often seem to do things contrary to standard operating procedures with little to no accountability for their actions.

The recent visits by the incoming Leader of the Opposition to several communities across Guyana have revealed systemic failures on the part of government including lack of potable water at schools, dilapidated infrastructure and shortages of teachers at some schools. How and why have things reached this stage despite billions being allocated yearly to various government Ministries? Without these issues being ventilated by the Leader of the Opposition, they would have largely slipped under the radar and it would have been business as usual. Governance at the local level continues to fail Guyanese citizens despite the best intentions of the President.

Minsters, Permanent Secretaries, the plethora of recently appointed Director-Generals and Advisers and staff across the public service have to get it right. Once again kudos to Minister Manickchand for a step in the right direction. Let’s hope that her actions inspire others as well.