Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to letter captioned ‘Region 3 REO has nothing to apologise for’ dated Saturday, September 3 that was published in the Stabroek News.
It must be noted that the writer of the letter (Prameshwar Ramdiol) was not present at the meeting.
I wish the public to note the following:-
- The Regional Executive Officer, Mr Denis Jaikarran was late for the RDC statutory meeting that morning, since he had a caucus in his office with the APNU+AFC councillors of the Region.
- When the meeting was scheduled to begin, Mr Denis Jaikarran was in his office and the Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Ms Ameena Hinds was sent by me to call him. He subsequently came in a haste and sat at the head table without saying good morning, which is a norm.
- The meeting then commenced and the Regional Executive Officer who is the Clerk of the Council was asked to respond an issue emanating out of “Matters Arising” to inform the council about a letter he was supposed to write to the Minister of Business garnering information on the cessation of work pertaining to the Plantain Chip Factory in Wakenaam. At this point the Regional Executive Officer stood up saying that he has nothing to say on the matter since the issue was addressed on the television last evening.
I subsequently asked the Regional Executive Officer to respond to the specific issue that was before the council. Again, the Regional Executive Officer said that he had nothing to say on the issue, picked up his books and indicated to the APNU+AFC Councillors and Heads of Department to leave the meeting followed by the Deputy Regional Executive Officer. According to the Public Service Rules the REO is the Head Public Servant in the Region and should be professional at all times.
- The writer is contradicting himself when he stated at the beginning that seven APNU+AFC Councillors walked out of the meeting and later in subsequent paragraph he stated nine councilors walked out of the said meeting.
Please note that a decision was taken by the council at its last statutory meeting held in July 2016 for the Clerk of Council who is the Regional Executive Officer to write the Minister of Business asking him to supply the council with a copy of the report that was done by his ministry pertaining to the effects of the cessation of works on the Plantain Chip Factory in Wakenaam.
This was a decision of the council and not of the Regional Chairman. No report was ever sent to the council on the issue mentioned above as was stated by the fictitious writer.
It was said by the writer that the REO is seen very favourably in the Region. I wish to state the following for the general public to be the judge:-
- a) The Regional Executive Officer does not communicate with the Regional Chairman who is the elected head of the Region.
- b) The Regional Executive Officer has reduced the Chairman’s fuel to five gallons daily (Monday to Friday) and none on weekends. This is hampering the Chairman’s movements inside the Region since the fuel is totally inadequate for an eight-cylinder vehicle to use daily. As an elected official the Chairman is entitled to sufficient fuel on a daily basis. Many days the Chairman has to wait for the Regional Executive Officer to sign the fuel book which he sometimes does not until the next day. This hampers the Chairman’s movement for that particular day.
- c) The Regional Executive Officer has never attended the Chairman’s weekly meetings since his assumption of office in the Region on October 10, 2015. He has also withdrawn his Heads of Department from attending monthly meetings with the Regional Chairman.
- d) The secretary and the driver to the Regional Chairman did not have their contracts renewed but other staff members older than them did have their contracts renewed. At present the Regional Chairman does not have a driver to work after 16:30hrs and at weekends.
Yours faithfully,
Julius Oliver Faerber
Regional Chairman
Region 3
