Several issues plaguing the Works and Finance Departments of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Regional
A section of the RDC at the statutory meeting
Democratic Council (RDC) in Linden continue to hamper the smooth execution of projects in the Region.
The issues were once again brought to the fore by Regional Chairman Renis Morian as the Council hosted its monthly statutory meeting.
A shortage of staff in the Works Department has resulted in numerous setbacks, outlined Morian, as he stressed that Regional Executive Officer (REO) Gavin Clarke has made several requests to the relevant government ministries to have vacancies filled, but those efforts have so far been unsuccessful. This is coupled with the fact that several staff in the department were sent on leave months ago, pending investigations into a fraud probe. Clarke just recently contended that months later, the Works Department, which now has a staffing of three persons continue to be significantly understaffed.
He said it appears as if the complaints are falling on deaf ears as he continues to call and write for changes to be made. He had stated his intention to hire consultants to assist, but frowned at the thought, noting that it may come with additional costs. Meanwhile, over in the Finance Department, Councillor Charles Sampson re-iterated the need to monitor what is happening there. According to him, compliant contractors are still complaining of not being paid on time, with some even refusing to do work for the council owing to this recurring problem.
“Why would a contractor’s pay be held up at any stage of the process? Is it that people are looking for perks to speed-up the payment of contractors? And the thing get so bad that some contractors does get their payments and say they ain’t get their payments… We need to monitor what is happening in the Finance…” he noted. Additionally, councillor Sandra Adams pointed to RDC employees, which she noted is contributing to the payment issue of contractors. She said the attitude of some is not in the interest of the execution on their duties, and that it reflects negatively on the council. “There are a lot of contractors who have been complaining in terms of the whole, long process – when they go to one department they are told to check at this department and when they go there they are told to check another department. The workers in the system, if they come to work, they need to work. They need to treat people with respect and handle people’s business with urgency”, she iterated. According to the Regional Chairman, these issues have been inherited by the current administration and are not new. Morian alluded that projects are not checked on time and payments are held up unnecessarily. He said a review of the RDC’s works programme is necessary as was proposed by the Finance Committee, as well as solutions on how the payment process for contractors can be speeded up.
“Persons are encouraged to do better. There are contractors who want to stay far from this RDC… because of how fast we pay. I am looking forward to see the impact that we would have made in terms of payment for contractors”, he said.
Morian said underhand issues, shortage of staff and the way the system is run are all contributory factors.
