Coalition Councillors threaten to shut down Region 5 RDC again

Coalition Councillors of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) have threatened to shut down the RDC for the rest of the year. The threat came as the Council met on Thursday.
The residents of Region Five were given a holiday present in December when the RDC met on December 21, 2017.  The coalition side of the Council promised they would be put first in 2018 and as such, they will participate in the RDC meetings but that promise might have only been short-lived for one meeting.

The threat was made at the end of the meeting and the Chairman was asked to reconvene the meeting. After stating that it had ended, some of the Councillors stated that he will not have a chance to close another meeting with them again and reminded him of what was done in 2016 and 2017.
Prior to that, the meeting could have been considered fruitful with several recommendations being made and the REO being instructed to implement them while several issues were debated.
The coalition claimed that the Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal, concluded the meeting abruptly and without giving some Councillors a chance to address an issue.
In both 2016 and 2017, the coalition refused to sit in most of the meetings.
Between January and July 2016, the coalition Councillors refused to sit at the meetings demanding an apology from the Chairman for not attending a function in the region at which President Granger was the guest of honour. In was until the President addressed the issue in August of that year stating that he did not want an apology that the coalition Councillors returned to the table.
In May 2017, they walked out after the Regional Executive Officer, Ovid Morrison, demanded an apology from the Chairman saying his creditability was at stake when Ramphal called for an investigation into allegations that two NDC officials had used an NDIA machine to carry out personal work. Morrison said he saw the machine being used and is of the opinion that since he stated that he saw the machine carrying out personal work, no investigation is needed and to call for an investigation is an insult to his integrity.
However, in December last, the Council assured residents that in 2018, the Council would put the development of the region first.
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s meeting, Councillor Gloria Wolf noted that in 2017, Ramphal did not attend the function when President Granger visited the region to commission two David ‘G’ busses in December of 2016. She said last week the President was in the region again to commission another bus and the Regional Chairman did not attend the function. In fact, he picketed the President. The Councillor asked for an explanation.
According to Ramphal, he was not officially informed of the President’s visit. (Andrew Carmichael)