By Chevy Devonish
Chairperson Leotha Green-Watson is denying that changes in the Region Three Works Committee’s procedures for inspecting works carried out by contractors in the region are intended to sideline opposition councillors, saying that her actions have been misinterpreted.
The Region 3 Works Committee is mandated by the Regional Democratic Council to inspect works carried out by contractors for the region. Payment to any contractor for the region is only made after the Works Committee inspects the works, and determines that it was satisfactorily done.
But during an Alliance for Change (AFC) press conference yesterday afternoon, AFC Region Three Council-lor Harrynarine Deokinanan, who is a member of the Committee, said that Green-Watson, a PPP/C Councillor, has changed two very important procedures which have long guided the committees operations since taking up the Chairpersonship earlier this year.
These changes, which were made at a meeting held in April of this year, Deokinanan alleges, are part of an attempt to bypass the scrutiny and oversight provided by the opposition’s presence on the committee, in an attempt to continue paying contractors who are friendly with the PPP/C for unsatisfactory work.
Detailing the changes made, he said that the committee had agreed that Works Committee certificates (Final Inspection Certificate of Project) should be signed by a PPP/C and an opposition councillor – either from the AFC or APNU – before any payments could be made to contractors.
Deokinanan, however, says that he learned on Monday that Green-Watson had changed the procedure so that the Works Committee certificates can now be signed by two PPP/C councillors. As such, he said, the certificate can now be signed without the opposition.
Green-Watson, however, is saying that the signatories to the certificates are of no consequence since both PPP/C and opposition councillors are part of the team that inspects then decides on the quality of works done by contractors in the region. As such, she said, whether the signatories of the certificate are two PPP/C councillors, or a PPP/C and an opposition councillor, the outcome is fair, since all parties would have played a role in authorising payments for the contractors.
She added that this particular practice make sense since it would be unfair to not give the other PPP/C committee member a chance to sign at least some of the certificates, especially since as the Chairperson of the committee, her signature is mandatory of the two required.
She said it was beyond her why Deokinanan would assume she was trying to cheat the system, especially since he was allowed to place his signatures on six certificates after works were inspected in Monday. She added that he was even allowed to carry out a hands-on evaluation of the works to ensure that what was done was according to the Bill of Quantities.
Deokinanan also said that the Chairperson has changed the statutory day for meeting and checking work done for the region from twice weekly to twice monthly. Furthermore, he said that the twice monthly days are not pre-determined; instead, the Chairperson would call unexpectedly to ask if councillors would be available to make checks of works done for the region. This, he said, is very inconvenient, since all of the councillors on the committee have jobs and would need to make provisions on short notice once they are called to conduct inspections.
He said that APNU Councillor Eviton Gulliver was called yesterday to be a part of the inspection team but he indicated that he would not be a part of the inspection team if the AFC representative (Deokinanan) was not present. Deokinanan said that he was not invited to be a part of the team.
But Green-Watson says that there is nothing strange about this practice. She said that Gulliver was invited to yesterday’s inspection since they were to be conducted in his area. She added that on Monday Deokinanan was the one summoned because the inspections carried out were in his area. Though the inspection was carried out, she said, no certificates have been signed since works on all of the projects inspected are ongoing.
She also disclosed that on the 12th and 14th of March, inspections were carried out where only opposition councillors were present. “They didn’t have a problem with it then, so what’s the problem now?” she asked.
Green-Watson said that the change was necessary since there was not much work to be inspected, since only a few contracts had been given out since the beginning of the year. In addition, she said, the inspections cannot be carried out unless she was present, and since she was recently involved in the assessment of the Grade four (4) and six (6) Examinations, and was also required to invigilate CXC exams, she could not make the dates which were previously decided on.
She said, however, that concerns raised by Deokinanan, along with the fact that contracts were recently distributed by the region, have served to convince her that the practice of having inspections twice weekly should be re-implemented. She also said that since she is not currently needed for her education-related responsibilities, she now has more time to facilitate the twice-weekly meetings. The Chairperson said that she was, however, waiting for the committee’s next meeting before the change was made public.
Green-Watson said that she was surprised at the allegations being made against her, especially since Deokinanan has never chosen to raise them with her. She said that she has tried to foster a good relationship with the council and was under the impression that she had a proper relationship with the members of her council.
