Dear Editor,
I AM a resident of the North Pakaraimas Sub-Region Number One of Region Eight, and have been residing here most of my life. I have observed that since this coalition administration came into office, the allocations in the regional budgets have increased significantly, and I would to personally commend them for this.However, these increases have little or no effect in our region, as a great part of this money is expended by squander and corruption. I think I can equivocally say that we are worse off than when the PPP/C was in government.
Corruption is the game of the day here. From the construction and repair of buildings to the provision of goods and services, most of these contracts they claim they did here are contracts that never existed. From the construction of buildings, revetment works, repair of buildings, repair of pipelines, provision of goods and service, and the list goes on. This can be easily verified.
I was told that one contractor who lives in Mahdia, sub-region 2 of Region Eight, was for this year alone awarded 13 contracts to do works in the North Pakaraimas sub-region One, none of which was done, yet he received his full payment.
I have even learnt that many contracts were awarded to contractors who have no knowledge of the work expected of them. The payment is then collected by a senior officer.
The North Pakaraimas Sub-Region One of Region Eight is the most difficult region in Guyana to do construction, due to the difficulties of accessing and transporting building materials; yet, by the second quarter of the year, is has completed over 90 of its capital works. This alone should have raised some eyebrows. However, that was not to be, it is in the number one position of the Ministry of Finance Performance Index.
How on earth can this be? This has to be the joke of the century. A responsible government would have someone monitoring these projects. However, that was not to be, which gives me the impression that these guys are working in collusion with central government.
I can recall that, when the now government was in opposition, there were lots of cries from them about corruption within the PPP government, and they promised that, should they be elected, they would stop corruption. However, from what we are seeing here, that was just another empty campaign promise. I don’t know about the other regions, but judging from what is taking place here, I think I can safely say that the level of corruption that has taken place here since this government took office in the past 18 months is more than what occurred during the 23 years when the PPP/C was in government.
I personally feel as though my relatives and I did a disservice to ourselves by voting for this coalition government. What I would like this Government to know is that we would not be fooled again, and come 2020, if they don’t get their act together now, they will receive a wake-up call from the residents here.
Very often, we hear that this Government is conducting forensic audit. What I would like the President to do, if he is really serious about corruption as he claims, is to conduct audit in Region Eight, since his government took office to now. Failing to do so would just say to us that these forensic audits they are conducting are only a political ploy to embarrass the PPP. The good life which Government has promised appears to be for only the top party members and the senior government officers in this region, who often travel to various continents on vacation. These officers work for small salaries, where are they getting the money to go on these vacations? And how can they go without permission from the Public Service Commission? I’ve even heard of a senior officer sending a chartered plane from a village in the North Pakaraimas to collect a pair of shoes he forgot in Mahdia.
Regards,
JOHN WILLIAMS
