Dear Editor,
I have been reading with deep interest the many allegations of corruption in Region 6 and the hijacking of the 2017 Estimates. What is exposed in various letters and the former Regional Executive Officer, Dr V Ramayya in his TV programmes are issues which have plagued the RDC for a long time but which have now reached epidemic proportions. If nothing is done by this coalition government then Region 6 will slide rapidly downwards. I was a Regional Councillor for four years and I am very much acquainted with the corrupt practices in relation to tenders and the huge number of substandard works being done and duly certified on a regular basis, but it is time that these practices are brought to an immediate halt.
I was also a former Chairman of the Water Users Association and I am quite stunned by the corrupt practices which are taking place now. The Region’s machines are being diverted to be used for personal benefit and the benefit of friends, rather than doing work to assist rice farmers in the area. These machines are also used to destroy my ancestors’ graves.
Many farmers have been complaining bitterly about these corrupt practices, but to no avail. All the access dams in the rice cultivation area are in dire need for repairs, yet the machines have remained stuck in one area for the past months servicing the friends and cronies of some officials of the Region. A senior official was spoken to and he promised to deploy these machines to No 54 Village over a month ago and yet nothing was done. It appears as though a certain official controls all the machines and that the Regional Chairman is totally unaware of what is going on. I do feel that it is time that the Regional Chairman investigates what is going on before it is too late, since he is in charge of the Region.
In addition, the education sector is also replete with corrupt practices. Recently, I was mandated by the Minister of Education to look at the conditions existing in various schools in the Region and I was disappointed by the substandard work done by contractors and the state of disrepair in most of the ninety schools I visited. For instance, at the Cumberland Nursery School female teachers have had no access to toilet facilities for over five years now. I was ashamed to ask how they responded to a call of nature. At the Belvedere Primary School a small footpath bridge which is just 4 feet in width was built at an enormous cost of one million dollars only last year and the revetment is already falling apart! Anyone looking at this bridge will be totally dumbfounded as to where the one million dollars actually went. This is a direct result of when estimates for work are done without any independent engineer being consulted or broad-based consultations. There are many instances of these and that is the reason why Region 6 cannot see the type of development that it should.
Lastly, because of lack of proper consultation there are some cases where estimates were made for roads in 67-69 Village which were already done and no consideration was given to priorities. I personally spoke to officials in the 52-74 NDC who decried the fact that they were not consulted in the preparation of the Region’s 2017 Estimates.
I do hope that this government will do a forensic audit of the Tender Board and the operations of the Region.
Yours faithfully,
Reekahraj Poonai
WPA Executive Member
