THE statutory meeting of the Region Five Regional Democratic Council (RDC) ended abruptly on Thursday after the APNU+AFC Councillors stormed out in a protest at what they deem gross disrespect for the Regional Executive Officer (REO) by the regional chairman.

The councillors who walked out said that the breakup of the meeting was triggered by the response of Chairman Vickchand Ramphal to allegations made against the chairman and the vice chairman of the Bath/Woodley Park Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

Earlier in the meeting, the AFC Councillor Abel Seetaram had made allegations that an excavator assigned to the NDC by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to do work in the Bath/Woodley Park area had been commandeered by the Chairman and Vice Chairman and deployed to do work to benefit lands the duo intended to use for their personal benefit.

Seetaram said the two men had used the machine for several weeks to do work for their personal benefit even when  parts of Bath Settlement were flooded due to several drains being clogged up with garbage.

He then said that himself and the REO,Ovid Morison had observed the misuse of the machine first hand and had demanded that it be used for the purpose for which it was sent to the area by the NDIA.

The chairman and vice chairman, Seetaram said, complied with this demand but only briefly since the machine was soon again put into operation for their personal gain.

The trouble started when Ramphal described the allegation as “vicious”, prompting councillors to suggest to him that he appeared to be taking the sides of the NDC Chairman and vice chairman.

The APNU+AFC councillors  said they grew stronger in suspicions when Councillor Seetaram offered to provide photographs of the misuse of the excavator and Ramphal rejected  this evidence, contending that photographs could not be reliable and that he would need to do his own investigations.
Ramphal also said that he had visited the area sometime after and had seen much evidence of work done by the excavator for the benefit of the community.

At this point, Morrison interjected, saying that he had personally seen the misuse of the excavator and sees the chairman’s “skepticism” as an attack on his integrity.

“I am not a liar and if this trend in the discussion, this matter continues, I will have to leave the meeting,” he said.Chairman Ramphal then told him that he is free to go.

This resulted in an uproar by the APNU+AFC councillors who accused the chairman of being disrespectful to the REO.

The Councillors also stormed out of the meeting immediately after.

Ramphal later denied that he was casting doubts on the integrity of the REO, pointing out that he needed to get more evidence than that supplied by Seetaram and the REO who claimed to be eyewitnesses to the misuse of the excavator.

“I was merely addressing what Seetaram was saying,” he said.

The next RDC meeting is a month away,prompting some observers to surmise that the matter might be resolved by then.