By Jeff Trotman
The belongings of Leola Narine, Assistant Regional Executive Officer (AREO) for Sub Region Two (Kwakwani/Berbice) in Region Ten, have been removed from the region’s property in Fair’s Rust, Linden. She was expected to collect them from another location on Thursday 11 September.
Deputy Regional Executive Officer (DREO), Maylene Charter-Stephen, in making the disclosure at last Thursday’s statutory meeting of the Region Ten Democratic Council, said the keys to the house were handed over to Assistant Regional Executive Officer (AREO) for Sub Region One, Devon Bremner.
In presenting the report, Charter-Stephen said the removal of Narine’s belongings was supervised by Regional Executive Officer Yolande Hilliman in the presence of a policeman and “a cameraman, who was videotaping everything that happened”.
Narine had been living at the Fair’s Rust property for some time after joining the Region Ten Administration. She then took up her appointment at Kwakwani. Her occupation of two properties in the region was discussed at a number of RDC statutory meetings and a decision was taken that she should be given time to evacuate the Fair’s Rust premises.
Some councillors had expressed concern that while the administration had expedited Narine’s removal from the Fair’s Rust property there seemed to be no urgency for similar action to be taken against former Works Supervisor Courtney Handy, who had taken up an appointment at Mahdia (Region Eight) but still had access to a house owned by the Region Ten administration in Linden. The RDC had recommended that a letter be sent to Handy, advising him to remove his belongings from the Region Ten property.
During her report, Charter-Stephen said she could not update the council on what transpired after a letter was written to Handy. Upon hearing the verbal report, Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon said: “At least for information purposes, we know what is going on.” He added that the council does not have any “remit to deal with” the eviction process.
However, APNU Councillor Gregory Parkinson said he found it hard to accept such information and he was “surprised” that the police were called in to evict Narine. He said the council “had taken a position that Ms Narine should keep on occupying the place until something proper could be done. So, to come and hear now that she was dashed out of the place, I find it is unacceptable”.
Parkinson asked: “What am I doing here? If we could make decisions and somebody could go back on it, what are we doing here? I find it unacceptable.”
He said if the RDC could not make a decision on the issue, why had the matter been raised for discussion in the RDC, in the first place, and a decision made based on the discussion. “Who making we a joke?” Parkinson asked.
PPP/C Councillor Phillip Fordyce said he was disturbed that such action was taken against Narine. He said he was certain that the brainchild behind the action would not take a similar attitude towards Handy. “They can’t find Mr Handy to give him the letter,” he said.
“They don’t want to,” another councillor interjected while AFC Councillor Audwin Rutherford suggested that there should be a policy on occupation of the region’s properties by its employees. APNU Councillor Frank Carew commented that force was used against Narine and nothing against others.
Conceding that Parkinson had made the point that the council had given a directive to the administration that was not executed, the Regional Chairman asked: “What actions do we take?”
On whether the council has the constitutional coverage to deal with such a matter, the Regional Chairman opined that all matters within the administration of the region come under the auspices of the RDC. But PPP/C Councillor, Compton Fraser, disagreed. “First of all, the issue was exclusively an administrative one,” Fraser said. “We were trying not to get the council involved in making a decision. I don’t think that we can make decisions on the matter.”
“There is no exclusivity in the administration’s action outside of the council,” the Regional Chairman contended. “The council is to be aware of everything that the administration does and to micro manage to ensure that it is done in the interest of the people of this region.”
Fraser, who is Chairman of the region’s Local Government Committee, said he is not aware of any policy on housing. The Regional Chairman responded that housing has a policy that is within the remit of the RDC and the council has to set the guidelines based on the policy. He added that the RDC has been asking for months for information on the number of properties owned by the administration and the parameters for the region’s employees to occupy such houses among other pertinent matters related to housing of the region’s staff. “We’ve been asking also, who are people occupying houses that are not supposed to be occupying them,” Solomon said.
Fraser said such information should have been readily provided by the administration for the council to examine.
To this the Regional Chairman said the council was attempting to operate in line with the policy and to ensure that there was a policy with respect to housing.
APNU Councillor Gerald Whittington asked when the letter was sent to Handy. Williams replied that there was no information on the date on which an eviction letter was sent to Handy. Upon hearing this, the Regional Chairman said that such lack of information was most unfortunate because that was one of the issues on the action list to be ventilated at the September statutory meeting – and more than that, when the letter was sent there should have been information on when it was received.
APNU Councillor Charles Sampson said the matter was under discussion for a long time and he was surprised that it was raised. According to him, the issue has more than meets the eye and it should not have reached the council.
He said Narine is a staff member of the administration and she has been treated with apparent animosity. “Where is that animosity coming from?” he asked before expressing the hope that the matter is quickly settled amicably. He, however, expressed concern on the Handy issue.
APNU Councillor Stanley Collins said that when the council makes a decision and the administration operates contrary to the decision, it shows contempt for the council. The Regional Chairman then called for the Regional Executive Officer to give a proper explanation in writing, because the council recognises that the matter was not being dealt fairly. According to him, the council gave an instruction that was not followed and the council needs to know why.
