Dear Editor,
The commemoration of Arrival Day on May 5, 2018 has arrived again, and the wrecked monument site at Palmyra is a stark reminder and symbolic of what Indians and Guyanese as a whole have been relegated to by this coalition Government in just three years.
On March 15, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Venkatachalam Mahalingum unveiled the site for the Indian Arrival monument at Palmyra Village. The structure to be built was supposed to display six bronze figures of three men, two women and a child illustrating Indians in their
The collapsed structure at Palmyra Village
daily lives.
However, from the inception the construction of this monument was shrouded in secrecy, even the Regional Democratic Council was not given the bills of quantities or informed about the name of the contractor so that the region can be an oversight body during the construction. In addition, it was long after the collapse that it was then revealed that Alternative Contracting Enterprises was given the contract even though he was not the lowest bidder. This also tells the corrupt nature of the award itself.
It must also be recalled that the designers had warned the contractor that the base of the monument was built too high and that it cannot accommodate the plans and designs and the placement of the figures among other things. Their warnings went unheeded.
After the collapse of the unfinished monument, an engineer confirmed that the contractor did substandard work. He said that, ‘They were backfilling the inside of the building, but they did not tie the structure to avoid what happened. The concrete is still not yet fully cured, and they should have used steel to tie the walls from the insides to keep the structure in place. The other option would have been to secure it from the outside.’
Even workers on site had complained that they were not being paid and that they hardly saw the contractor. This alone would suggest gross negligence by the contractor. It is alleged that some of these workers are still to be paid.
But what has become of this contractor? Was he blacklisted? Was he paid for the substandard work?
This contractor continues to get contracts by the Government and at the RDC Statutory meeting on Thursday, it was revealed by the Vice Chairman that the contractor was already paid $80 million for the collapsed structure! The total contract sum was $97 million. It is an insult to one’s sensibilities that 82 per cent of the contact sum would have been gifted to this contractor when a casual inspection by any engineer would have unearthed the grossly substandard work that was being done! Who certified the work at various stages to facilitate payments to this errant contractor?
However, this collapsed monument probably was foretelling what lies ahead since we saw the descendants of these Indentured servants being treated with such rancor and disdain by this Government to the extent that their livelihoods are at stake, their children are starving and cannot afford the basic necessities of life while those in Government are enjoying the ‘good life’ including the ‘arkatis’ (professional recruiter of indentured servants) Indians who ‘sold’ them.
On this day there is need to do serious introspection as to whither are we going as a nation when there no longer exists equal employment opportunities and corruption is engulfing every facet of our lives. Our leaders must respect our people and give some relevance and credence to our motto: ONE PEOPLE ONE NATION ONE DESTINY! Guyana belongs to all of us!
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
RDC Councillor, Region Six
