…as chairman ducks scrutiny of alleged abuse of gov’t vehicle

THE statutory meeting of the Region Two ( Pomeroon-Supenaam) RDC lasted for approximately 20 minutes on Tuesday before it hastily ended with a walk out by the People’s Progressive Party Councillors led by the Regional Chairman, Devanand Ramdatt.

The meeting commenced around 09:15h following the arrival of the chairman to preside over a full house. After perusing the previous minutes which was later adopted, Councillor Naith Ram enquired about the absence of the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Rupert Hopkinson, since there was no excuse as to his non-attendance.

There was then a rapturous thumping of fists on the desk by most of the councillors who also enquired about the REO’S absence. The Regional Chairman then intervened and remarked that the Council will no longer tolerate such disrespect shown by the REO and in light of the DREO (Deputy Regional Executive Officer) being unable to answer pertinent questions, he then rose and announced that the meeting has ended. He later led the PPP-dominated councillors out of the boardroom.

Contacted on the issue, Hopkinson said that he was attending to some urgent pressing issues, given that a Minister of Government is expected in the region today. He said he had asked the DREO to oversee the proceedings. Hopkinson said based upon his preliminary enquiries, the walk out had nothing to do with his absence at the meeting, but rather another matter which was raised at the forum.

Hopkinson further added that the regional councillors had planned to raise the issue of the Chairman going off on leave for 42 days recently, and taking the government’s vehicle assigned to him despite two requests for him to return it. Hopkinson said the chairman would have been asked to explain his action at Tuesday’s meeting and he might have gotten wind of this and decided to break up the meeting.

Meanwhile, one councillor contended that proper protocol was not adhered to by the Chairman, since he claimed that the decision to have the meeting dissolved should have been put to a vote before any action could have been taken.

RDC statutory meetings are held on the second Tuesday in every month, and the councillor is questioning whether they will have to wait until next month to deal with the business of the Council, including matters that affect the daily livelihood of residents.