Region 6 is sure destined for a long, rough ride

Dear Editor,
The activities of the Region 6 Tender Board are kept under such strict ‘confidentiality’ that even the Regional Chairman and his Deputy — and by extension, the entire Regional Democratic Council — are at a loss for information relating to tenders.
At the statutory meeting held on 5th July, the Regional Chairman, Mr David Armogan, revealed to the RDC that the minutes of the Tender Board meetings are not given to him at all, and he questioned the rationale for this, since he is the administrative officer in charge of the Region.
It would seem that the Tender Board operates as an autonomous body, with no responsibility to report to the RDC.
The Regional Chairman is the head of the RDC, and is mandated to exercise general direction and control over the affairs of the RDC, carefully monitoring its capital and current work programmes as well as economic ventures funded from its economic projects fund.
On the other hand, the Regional Executive Officer, as the head of the Regional Tender Board, must supervise the implementation of the RDC’s work programmes, subject to the general direction of the Regional Chairman, acting with the approval of the RDC.
In other words, the responsibility of the RDC is collective, and a Regional Chairman must not act on his/her own; neither should the REO. When the REO sits as the head of the Tender Board, he/she must report to the Regional Chairman, and that is done by submission of the minutes to him, so that he is kept informed. How else can the Regional Chairman monitor the capital expenditure programmes of the region?
Therefore, it follows that since the Regional Chairman is unaware of what is happening at the Tender Board, the RDC Councillors will also not be aware of what contracts are awarded, to whom they are awarded, and at what cost, since the RDC councillors on the Tender Board are tight-lipped about this.
It must be noted that RDC Councillors would have voted for the approval of the Annual Budget Estimates, but this, sadly, is all the contributions they are entitled to make, apart from some budgetary items’ proposals.
It is submitted that RDC councillors should play an integral part in the oversight of these contracts, but when they are not informed, how will they do such monitoring?
At the statutory meeting, the RDC was informed that many inexperienced contractors, especially from the Alliance for Change, are awarded contracts, while experienced contractors with the capacity in terms of machinery and equipment are guilefully cast aside. Moreover, there is, from outside of the Region, an influx of contractors who are given preference above those in the Region, even though our contractors are the lowest evaluated bidders.
No wonder Region 6 is falling apart socially and economically. We are suffering from the fallout of the closing of the two estates, yet our contracts are now being given out to persons from outside of the Region.
It was also disclosed that a water ambulance for Orealla was budgeted for in the 2017 Regional Budget, and $10 million had been allocated for its purchase; but, until now, that capital item has not been received. The question is: Was the contract awarded? And if so, was the money paid to the contractor?
In that same year, this happened to a harrowing plough that was to be purchased to rehabilitate the playgrounds in the Region. In addition, a Health Centre built at Plegtanker, East Bank Berbice in 2017 is still inoperable!
Now there is another twist to the bulldozer fiasco. The contractor having claimed to have repaid the $14.8 million, the Region is still trying to trace where the money went. If it was paid to the Region or into the Treasury, in which case the Region would have lost the money. In the meantime, it will cost the Region over $200 million to rehabilitate the dams in the farming areas which have been getting progressively worse since the bulldozer’s service was lost a year ago.
Recently, a contract for $100 million dollars was awarded by the MoPI to 6 ‘fly by night’ contractors who are all AFC-affiliated hacks. This contract was never advertised. These contracts are for the weeding and cleaning of the sides of the Corentyne Highway. At an Alternative Livelihood Development outreach programme, workers were told that they would be made contractors.
Why is it that this contract was not broken down into small parts and awarded to some of the sugar workers? The only tool needed is a brush-cutter!
Three years after ascending to office, this Coalition Government is still perennially busy awarding its families, friends and party hacks!
The above constitutes evidence that Region 6 is the focus of many corrupt practices at both the Regional and Government levels. There must be a thorough investigation into what is happening at the National and Regional Tender Boards. Procurement corruption is now syndicated.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf,
RDC Councillor,
Region Six