Dear Editor,
During consideration of the estimates for Region 8 in Parliament, our Vice-Chairman Mr Moses Nagamootoo, asked whether the Regional Budget was based on consultation with the RDC, inclusive of the Chairman and Councillors. He also asked whether the project came from the Chairman and Councillors of the Region or from the Regional Executive Officer.
The Minister of Local Government, Mr Ganga Persaud, said there was consultation.
I want to say that the Chairman and Councillors had no part play to play in the Regional Budget’s submission. After the REO submitted the Regional Budget, he sent a copy to my office to inform me of what he had submitted. After he did that I immediately sent a letter to the Minister of Local Government informing him that the Regional Budget was submitted without being checked or approved by the Chairman and Councillors, and asked for the recall of the budget and that he should allow us to submit a revised 2013 budget.
I received a letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government dated the 18th September 2012 informing me that the Minister does not have the authority to change the budget submission date.
The only part the Regional Chairman played in the Region 8 Budget was instructing the REO to write the Minister of Finance asking for an amendment to the Region 8 Budget to include a ground storage water tank to upgrade the Salbura water system. That was on the 21st January 2013. I also wanted the clearing of a plot of land along the Mahdia airstrip. These the Minister said were our “bits” we wanted to add, even though we are the elected leaders of Region 8.
The PPP government is making a farce of the concept of consultation. In addition, whilst the AFC holds the chairmanship of the Regional Council, the hand-picked PPP activist, who is the REO, bypasses the Chairman and the council.
It is sad that our constitution provides for “Regional Democratic Councils” but in practice the PPP refuses to cooperate with the council and to implement programmes for our people in the Region.
We need government ‘bottom-up,’ not dictatorship, ‘top-down.’
Yours faithfully,
Mark Crawford
Regional Chairman
Region 8
