President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that he was disappointed in Region Six’s Regional Executive Officer (REO) Narindra Persaud after several issues were raised during an outreach in Mara, East Bank Berbice.
The President also upbraided the regional engineer, Bhishan Dalip over issues raised by residents.
Following the meeting, President Ali stated, “I am disappointed with the REO because he knows of the policy and he never reported it to the minister that the pension is not paid in the community. I am disappointed with the engineer, coming to the communities not preparing any report, not following up on anything.”
At the meeting held yesterday, residents reported that they had to leave Mara, one of the last villages on the East Bank of Berbice to uplift their pensions in the town of New Amsterdam. Ali noted that it was a policy decision to have the same distributed in the villages.
He then questioned Persaud if he was aware of the matter, and according to Persaud, he was and previously told the NIS office in New Amsterdam. However, an outraged Ali upbraided Persaud for not informing his subject minister on the issue so as to ensure it was dealt with.
“We gave a directive that pension must be paid in these communities, that is a cabinet directive, so somebody has to answer some questions”, Ali said.
Meanwhile, residents also reported that there was a tube in the community of Germania on the East Bank of Berbice that was placed incorrectly and has been heavily silted up – an issue that affects cash crop farmers as their fruit trees are in need of water given the dry period.
The residents said that they reported the matter several times to the regional democratic council and so President Ali sought to clarify.
Regional Chairman, David Armogan said some works were done at the location but could not say how long ago.
The engineer was then asked when last he visited the community. Initially, he told the President some time ago, however, he eventually said that it was earlier in the year.
President Ali then asked whether reports were prepared from those visits and who they were submitted to. However, Dalip could not provide an answer and eventually said that no report was prepared.
The REO was also asked whether he was okay with not receiving reports from the engineer following these visits.
Stopped in
Ali then further asked about his visit, and Dalip explained that he had visited the area and “stopped in” at the villages – a statement that did not sit well with the President.
Expressing his disappointment, Ali said, “Coming to the communities not preparing any report, not following up on anything…”
According to President Ali, in areas where there are gaps, they must be filled, “We are paying people and we are not going to tolerate the lack of care … for communities… These ministers, the cabinet is in the field every single day, we are making the resources available, we can’t in a small society like ours we can’t have little gods all over the place, we got to fix it.”
Meanwhile, the residents did not shy away from commending the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Chairman, Lionel Wordsworth for working along with them to fix a number of issues. They also spoke highly of the CDC engineer, Avinash Ghansham, and a female NAREI extension officer, Yashma, who the farmers said have been working around the clock with them.
The residents of Mara also highlighted that 16 children who travel out to attend schools in New Amsterdam are in need of transportation, as such President Ali said that by the end of next week, they will figure out a solution that works best for the children.
In terms of the Germania tube issue, Ali tasked the NDIA to look at it and have it fixed at the earliest.
Additionally, the President revealed that $5m would be spent on the Plegt Anker community ground as residents agreed that that specific ground was in need of work.
