Dear Editor,
In the Kaieteur News of Friday, January 13, a story under the caption ‘REO blamed for flooding in Region Two’ detailed the reason why he was blamed and from whom the comments emanated. In the Stabroek News of January 12, statements were made by the senior national drainage agricultural official indicating that he was to a great extent satisfied with the efforts made to reduce flooding in Region 2. So who are we to believe?
It is public knowledge that in the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), which is the highest decision-making forum in the region, the Regional Executive Officer (REO) is the Clerk of the RDC, and can be described as the Regional Finance Officer also. He was at the meeting where I suppose his issue was discussed, after which a press release was issued.
In the story reported by a reporter who was at the meeting nothing is mentioned of the REO’s side of the story or what may have caused the flooding, and I am certain that if given a chance he may have rebutted strongly the negative things that were said about him.
There was never a coin with one side, and no matter how thinly you try to slice anything there are bound to be two sides. Whatever the circumstances or situation it is the right of the person or persons to be heard and this must at all times be respected.
I served as a member of the Region 2 RDC for seven consecutive years until I resigned in 2013, and during that time I was always a member of the Works and Agricultural Committee, a statutory committee of the RDC. It was always chaired by no less a person than the Regional Vice Chairman, a senior member of the PPP, and it included senior officials from the Drainage and Irrigation Department, (D&I), the Rice Producers Association (RPA), and the Water Users Association. At all of our monthly meetings discussions pertaining to the maintenance of dams, the clearing of trenches, the desilting of trenches, and the clearing of outfalls, so as to stop or reduce the flooding, would account for more than two thirds of the discussion, but unfortunately we never got the kind of result we all would have wanted. It is relevant to mention that during those seven years, there were two chairmen and four REOs, all elected or appointed by the PPP.
The RDC of Region Two is a council where for decades the PPP have had a two thirds majority. The current REO ‒ it is no secret ‒ is appointed by the APNU+AFC, but that does not mean that a close and harmonious relationship cannot exist. While there are persons who will always be looking for place and space, it should not be done at the expense of other persons, including people of the region.
I am not an apologist for the REO. I have openly criticized him a couple of times using strong language, but to lay the blame squarely at his feet for the recent flooding as the story suggests, is wrong. My father was a rice farmer, and I was with him in those days when we used to plant it, cut it, drag or slide it, mash it, wind or sift it, bag it, before you sold it, so I know what it means to the farmers. Rice in Region Two and by extension the whole country is and will always be equivalent to what oil is to Arabia and the rest of the Arab world.
It is time that all ‒ the stakeholders, the officials, the administration at both regional and national levels ‒ worked in tandem for the good of the industry.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
Former AFC Councillor
Region No 2
