By Vanessa Braithwaite

THE houses owned and maintained by the Regional Democratic Council of Region 10 are reportedly occupied by persons not assigned to them, or even in the employ of the RDC. This information came to the fore when the RDC held its statutory meeting on Thursday.Councillor Charles Sampson posited this observation at the meeting, even as he requested an explanation from Regional Chairman Renis Morian on the issue. There are 147 state houses throughout Region 10, and according to the Regional Chairman, over 50 of these are occupied by employees of the Region who have not been assigned to them. Regular citizens, and even retirees, also occupy these houses. This situation has been deemed unacceptable by the councilors, and a request was made for an expeditious investigation into the matter, so that these persons can vacate these homes, as millions of dollars from the state are spent refurbishing the houses on a yearly basis.

Regional Chairman Morian told the councillors that the Regional Executive Officer had committed himself to regularising this situation, and correspondences have already been sent out to the unauthorised occupants of these homes, requesting that they vacate the properties earliest. The Regional Chairman also revealed that councillors presently sitting in the room have encouraged some of those occupants to ignore the request of the REO. He argued that he has no authority to make such a demand.

“There are councillors in here joining with those people and saying ‘don’t move’, so we blowing hot and we blowing cold, and I say without no apology that the people don’t have any right living in the house, and councillors telling them don’t move that the REO doesn’t have no authority,” he said.

He reminded the councillors that the REO has the authority to make such a request, as he is the chief financial officer of the Region.

The Regional Chairman guaranteed the councillors that systems are in place to have those unauthorised persons vacate the state houses.