–following massive flooding at Riverview, Alexander Village

FOLLOWING the flooding at Riverview and Alexander Village earlier this month, reportedly caused by the negligence of those manning the koker, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has said that no one has since come forward to write to the City Council seeking compensation.
“There was no compensation paid; they asked who will compensate us, but I don’t think anyone would have written seeking such compensation,” Chase-Green told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment recently.
“I know there have been millions of dollars lost. How do we look at compensation? I don’t know,” she said.

The two persons left in charge of the River View koker who residents alleged slept through the high tide resulting in massive flooding in those communities, were handed letters to proceed on administrative leave to facilitate an investigation.
The two men, the supervisor and pump attendant, were directly involved in the operations of the sluice when the tragedy occurred, and City Engineer Colvern Venture was subsequently asked by Town Clerk Royston King to provide an analysis of the condition of all sluices and pumps in the city.

Meanwhile, residents have blamed the mishap on the koker attendant, whom they said fell asleep and left the koker door open during the rising tide.
“I was coming home from wake at 12:00hrs and I noticed that the water was coming in from Ruimveldt (Police) Station area,” one resident of Alexander Village said.
“We see the koker door open; it went high. We hear, ‘Get up, get up! Like this man sleep away and left the koker door open!’

“So said, so done! By the time we knock at the door, the water done start coming in. The most we get fuh do is put up the chair them,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.
A teacher from the same community was left pondering who was going to compensate her family for their losses.
“Everything in my house is damaged right now; the chairs, the fridge, the vanity, the computer.
“I am a teacher; that [computer] is one of my main tools. Who is going to reimburse me these things? It is no fault of ours, but the fault of the guy at the koker,” she said.