Dear Editor,
I JOINED the AFC in 2005 after I left the PPP. My primary aim was to help fight against corruption which was rampant in the public sector and all government ministries during the past administration. I was also a victim and I paid the ultimate price with corruption to get my businesses off the ground. Some government officers respected me for my knowledge in all areas and knowing that I was a former Director of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and the Deputy Mayor of the Anna Regina Town Council. When it comes to commercial and residential plans and the local government laws 28:01 and 28:02, I am well versed in them and no one can roll over me as they think.
After AFC +APNU decided to team up as a unity team to fight the May 11,2015,general and regional elections, I was approached by the honourable Prime Minister Mr. Moses Nagamootoo at my home to help Mr. Sam Bacchus on the campaign trail in Region 2. I used my wife as my driver with my car to go down on the ground with my own gasoline and time to meet and talk with the people and encouraged them to go out and vote for a change which they did. I have known the prime minister for decades. He was my local government minister during my tenure as the mayor/deputy mayor. We both knew each other well in the days of the PPP; he would visit me every time he is on the Essequibo Coast, meeting with rice farmers and holding bottom house meetings.
My campaign was slick and forceful against corruption on the ground and I had all confidence that the new government would stamp out corruption when it assumed office, but it still continues to raise its ugly head in some government department in Region 2. I saw it first hand when I was invited to the birthday of my best friend’s wife on Monday, November 2, 2015. His house was in total darkness, although there was electricity in the village. He told me that he had asked GPL to disconnect his light for fear of a fire from his meter since he was going to take care of his daughter’s house in Canal No. 2 for six months.
GPL went and disconnected his meter at his request. After the six- month period was up, he came back to live at his residence in Lima. He then went back to GPL and asked them to reconnect his meter. He was told by the supervisor that the house would have to get a new inspection first before they could connect it. He went to the electrical inspector at the O&M Department, Region 2 and he decided to go and look at his house. He went into the house and looked at the wiring, points, switches and lights. The inspector told him that his house would have to be rewired and changed from 240 volts to 110 volts.
He gave my friend an estimate and told him that he would do the job, but he would have to pay him good and a top-up. He bought a new roll of 110 volt electrical cable, points, breakers, lights and switches. The electrical inspector took the job and charged him $5,000 for each point, light and switch with an inspection fee of $10,000 and demanded a $30,000 bribe after the house was finished. He told me that after three days all the completed house lights and other equipment were shutdown without electricity.
Editor, this is a poor man, all he does for a living is to make coconut oil and sell and his wife will buy and sell ground provisions to the community.
On his wife’s birthnight, the house had no lights and all the invitees were in darkness. It was a total embarrassment to him. He showed me the $ 10,000 receipt for the inspection and his bills from the electrical store. The inspector had condemned all the 240-volts points which were working for decades without any problem. He just wanted to rip off a poor man of his hard sweat and hard earned money. And he is not even a certified and qualified electrician. He was promoted because his uncle was well connected in the previous administration.
This electrical inspector I was told had ripped off a lot of poor people in Region 2 and they are asking that he be dismissed or removed from the region for demanding bribes from the poor and downtrodden. I saw the tears in the eyes of my friend and his wife while they were telling me their sad story.
Yours faithfully
Mohamed Khan