–for want of NDC chairman

ALL’S not well, the Guyana Chronicle has learnt, up at Woodlands/Farm, Mahaicony, where the least of their problems is not being able to pay NDC staff going on several weeks now.
And to make matters worse, residents are also calling on former NDC Chairman Mr Dynan Maraj to sign off on cheques so that infrastructural and other projects can get started.
NDC Councillor Mr Prince Pompey told the Guyana Chronicle by telephone on Tuesday that the situation is fast getting out of hand, all because of a legal battle over the position of NDC Chairman, owing to a tie for the post at the last Local Government Election (LGE) in March 2016.

“We don’t have a functioning chairman,” one Zeskenderen, Mahaicony resident told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday. She said that though she does not quite understand what is happening, the situation has got to a stage where it is creating major setbacks within the district.
Councillor Pompey conceded that there are problems aplenty, one of which is that several NDC staff and workers employed with the drainage and irrigation project within the area sometimes have to wait for months before they are paid their salaries.
Pompey explained that due to the NDC not having a chairman, they’ve had to prevail upon Maraj and another signatory to sign off on cheques so they could pay staff and attend to community projects as well.

“You have to have three persons from the NDC; three signatures,” Pompey said, adding:
“I am the only one from the other side, so we does ask the former chairman to sign. Sometimes he want to sign, and sometimes he don’t want to sign.”
Pompey said that currently, 11 D&I staff and seven NDC office staff have not been paid for last month, because Maraj has gone to Canada on vacation.
He said that Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings, was in the community last Sunday and heard from residents that many of the problems they are experiencing have to do with the NDC not having a Chairman.

MATTER IN COURT
“They always complaining, because the council is right now in court and we’re waiting on the judge to make the decision,” Pompey said.
“Minister Cummings was here on Sunday and she took down some of the details. And she say she will take it to the Minister of Communities,” he added.
He said that while Mahaicony has a good drainage system, and D&I workers clean the smaller drains, the MMA/ADA is responsible for cleaning the canal which leaks into the Mahaicony Creek, but due to the documents not being signed, monies cannot be released to finance the project.

“The water start building up in the canal,” he said, “and the one at Zeskenderen need cleaning right now, because the water can’t get to flow into the Mahaicony Creek.
“As long as they get the other signatories, it gonna be all right. We have money to do some work, but we can’t spend the money because is a chequing system.”
Pompey said, too, that the stairway at the NDC office is in a terrible state and can collapse at any time. The two toilets are also bad, but the vouchers and cheque books cannot be signed.
Meanwhile, Mr Gershon Clarke, an APNU representative and one of the men who tied in the votes for NDC chairman, explained that the court battle has created hindrances to progress, but said that Minister of Communities has exhausted all other avenues in appointing a chairman for the locality.

“This locality, we have a tie NDC, whereby both we and the PPP would have gotten the same eight votes,” Clarke explained.
He said that Minister of Communities, Mr Ronald Bulkan, after facilitating several internal elections among councillors for one of the two voted to be elected Chairman, appointed him as chairman over PPP representative Krisendat Balkarran.
The elections were held thrice, Clarke said, and on each occasion, both parties each secured eight votes from among the 16 councillors.
“The minister would have appointed me as the Chairman; and with that, the PPP moved to court,” he said.

He said the court has ordered that he cannot convene as chairman of the NDC and they are awaiting a decision by the judge.
He said even in situations of flooding and other issues, persons approach him complaining, but nothing can be done about it. “They’re venting their frustrations,” he said.
He explained that because of this situation, Maraj remains a signatory, but sometimes either refuses to sign vouchers and cheques or he sometimes does it in his own time. And whenever he goes on vacation, they have to wait until he gets back.

MINISTER INTERVENES
Meanwhile, a press statement from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said Minister Cummings visited the area and heard the concerns of residents, who pinpointed the absence of a chairman as a main issue.
GINA quoted Minister Cummings as saying, “I have managed to hear the comments from the persons here… For instance, there isn’t a functioning NDC chairman, because there was a tie (in the March 2016 Local Government Elections), so that’s a problem. And we have to have that solved.”

GINA said the issues are expected to be addressed by December 2017. “Minister Cummings said that based on information she received, capital expenditure works for several structures and other areas within Mahaicony were included in the 2017 Budget.
“Issues within the Public Health, Public Infrastructure and Local Government sectors were also highlighted during the meeting…
“Residents were assured that even as the government’s mandate of the good life beckons, they were asked to be patient, since the works to address their concerns will require community and regional co-operation.”

Minister Cummings highlighted that the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) had received funds from the National Budget for drainage and irrigation projects and to ensure maintenance of systems and structures, GINA said.
All information will be forwarded to the respective subject ministers for the issues to be addressed urgently.

“They may have monies to do work, but because of signatories, persons like the chairman outside, they can’t have work done to pay persons, and of course, they have other matters in irrigation, sanitation, health issues, solid waste; for the young people job opportunities and having play parks and we want to see how we can develop this community,” GINA quoted the minister as saying.