Corruption, mismanagement plagued Communities Ministry – Dharamlall

…says depoliticised organs to respond to citizens’ needs

Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall has disclosed that the dissolved Communities Ministry was not functioning as it was mandated to, in order to address the needs of the general populace.

He shared this position on Monday during an interview with Guyana Times, where it was stated that this dysfunctional system led to corruption and mismanagement at the local and regional administrative levels. This resulted in the misuse of funds, which did not benefit the people.
“The success of governance is being able to respond to the issues of people. I don’t think that the last Government did enough of that. We have issues of corruption taking place at the local and regional level, at the municipal level. They did not ensure that taxpayers’ dollars were well spent. They did not spend enough time addressing the concerns of the people. They only became active in the days leading up to elections,” Dharamlall told this publication. He added that a ripple effect was created by this inactive approach, whereby the needs of the people were not fulfilled. Instead, he said, the regional officers were heavily engaged in politics and neglected the management aspect of their portfolios.

The Ministry, he pointed out, was not functioning as it should, adding that “if services are not provided through good leadership and management, then the lives of our citizens are going to deteriorate. The same thing we found in the regional democratic system as well. The REOs were more entrenched in political work, rather than to manage the administration, our resources and taxpayers’ dollars into investments and interventions.”
The APNU/AFC coalition, in their five-year tenure, had dismantled the Local Government and Housing Ministries in 2015 and merged them into a Communities Ministry. Upon retaining office earlier this month, the PPP/C Administration sought to return to the old structure to facilitate greater coverage.
Upon taking over, Dharamlall said a situational analysis followed to take a cursory look at financial expenditure, liabilities, shortcomings and challenges. This was followed by depoliticising the regional administrations to move the focus to the needs of communities.
“We’ve sought to depoliticise the staffing strength of the Ministry because as a Government, we serve all of the people and communities. Our focus here would be to work collaboratively, consultatively and to work from the bottom in a responsible manner that enables solutions,” he added.
Less than one week ago, this was evident after the Permanent Secretary dispatched termination letters to seven Regional Executive Officers.
Randolph Storm from Region One (Barima-Waini), Denis Jaikarran from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Jennifer Ferreira Dougal from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Ovid Morrison from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Kim Stephen-Williams from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Carl Parker from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), and Orrin Gordon from Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) were terminated since their deployment was “inimical to the effective and efficient functioning of the regions they managed”.
The Minister had commented that they practiced “heavy partisan politics” and were “void of professionalism and impartiality”.
Going forward, he said, their plans circle having a round-the-clock responsive team to address the needs of people and facilitate engagements before policies are developed. Moreover, they are looking to assist the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils in other areas which the subventions could not fulfil.
“We have a plan where we are going to make this Ministry 24-hour responsive to the needs of the people of this country…Policies that come out of this Ministry and likewise, those that come out of other Ministries, we would like to facilitate our citizens contributing to it. You would find that resources that were supposed to be expended were not properly spent as yet. The subventions provided to NDCs, despite being spent, they still have outstanding needs.”
Other revelations which were unearthed last week was the fact that former Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan paid over $800 million to 56 staffers for doing absolutely no work during his five-year term in office. It was found that there were 23 staff members in Bulkan’s Secretariat earning a total of $7,730,000 per month. The Minister noted that those persons are all active members of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition. (G12)