The Alliance For Change says it is expecting that the 2014 national budget will provide sufficient funds for the complete rehabilitation of the main road in Mahdia (Potaro/Siparuni).
The present condition of the road is most appalling especially in the rainy season, the AFC said in a release yesterday, arguing that the 2013 Budget did not provide sufficient funds to rehabilitate the road. An AFC nominee is the Chairman of the Potaro/Siparuni Regional Development Council.
“It is unconscionable that for a Region that contributes as much to the national coffers as Region Eight, its residents have to put up with a road as bad as the one they have. The Government while boasting of the growth in the economy and the record gold production should put back some of that money into the Region whose resources are being plundered”, the AFC argued.
The AFC is also urging the Local Government Minister to cooperate with the Regional Democratic Council and heed the call of the Council to have the Regional Executive Officer (REO) removed. It charged that the REO’s “non-cooperative attitude” has plagued the efforts of the RDC to bring development to the Region and as a result the people are suffering.
The AFC said that Chairman of the RDC, Mark Crawford has repeatedly written the Local Government Minister citing numerous instances against the REO but, to date, the Minister has not acted. The standoff between the chairman and the REO has been replicated in other regions and reflects the ongoing concerns of the opposition that central government undermines the regions through the post of the REO.
Meanwhile, the AFC release said that the Regional Chairman has had cause to write the Permanent Secretary of the Local Government Ministry enquiring about his copy of the Auditor General’s Report. It is customary for the Ministry to forward copies of the AG’s Report to all Regional Chairpersons.
