RECENTLY appointed Region 10, Regional Executive Officer (REO) Orrin Gordon, has made a public call at the most recent RDC statutory meeting for an increase in stipends for regional councillors, tender evaluators and members of the tender board.

Currently regional councillors are paid a monthly stipend of $10, 000 while members of the tender board are paid a stipend of $8, 000. Evaluators are paid $3, 000 per session. Gordon believes that these rates are archaic and need to be increased if diligence and efficiency should be expected from their performances.

He said that the Councillors of Region 10 are mandated to make decisions on behalf of an entire region, spanning all three rivers and work assiduously to make sure that residents receive government funds in the best way possible. In this regard, they must be properly compensated for their time and resources. “That not right, that is not fair and I don’t care what government system you have, it must ensure that they paying the people, it is asking to deliver, it must pay the people properly and that is not good.” Gordon exclaimed.
This is not the first time that noise has been made over increase in councillors’ stipend. The $10, 000 has not been increased in over a decade and the very same councillors, previously solicited an increase, in addition to the provision of cell phones. In making the demand, the councillors compared their stipend to those of Toshaos and councillors of hinterland regions whose job description is similar. “For the councillors who are working, this may not be important to them, but for us who look forward to this $10,000 because that is our only means of income and we have monthly expenses, we need an increase,” Councillor Gordon Callender posited. Regional Chairman Renis Morian had promised that the issue would have been looked into after the 2016 local government elections; however it remains the same.

REO Gordon believes that something should be done about the matter expeditiously. “People have to be paid properly for their service, it is not something to be taken very lightly, something has to be done about the matter, I don’t know where we have to take it but is has to be taken to some level,” he said. Gordon revealed that in the space of one month, the tender board would have met for about four to five times and is it tedious work that has to be done.

The $3, 000 per session for evaluators is far from encouraging and now the region only has three persons working in this capacity, which is insufficient to thoroughly evaluate all the tenders in a timely manner. Gordon said that this is affecting a number of projects to be done as work is being held back causing gridlock. “We need to have more evaluators and people competent enough to ensure that those tenders are done properly, $3000 per session cannot work, you have to scrutinize every one and ensure that the calculation is correct and that kind of work is taxing work,” he said. He is hoping that the relevant authorities look into the situation earliest.