NEWLY appointed Regional Executive Officer (REO) of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10, Orrin Gordon, is on a mission to leave all the negative labelling of the institution in the past and to start his tenure with a clean slate.

Gordon, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle acknowledged that one of the public concerns about the RDC was misappropriation of budgetary funds, several of which were reported in the media and were investigated.

The new REO said that for the two weeks he has been in office he has been privy to information concerning misuse of funds and has already put measures in place to start things anew. “Whatever was said that was then, we are hopefully starting a new page in that regard, we have to deliver service to the people of the community and region and in so doing, I would like to see a lot of the resources which would have been put at the disposal of the region, really and truly benefitting the people of the community,” Gordon posited.

BUILDING CONTRACTOR CAPACITY
One of his main plans is to aid the local contractors in building their capacities so that they can benefit from the contracts, rather than to award same to outsiders. In that way, Gordon attested that the resources will stay in the region. He also believes that the more contracts awarded to local contractors, the less they will tend to misappropriate funds and the region will get the desired quality and quantity of work. “We are trying to encourage them and empower them so that they can lift themselves up to the next level. It will not be a good thing for us to continue to say that they lack capacity, so we have our work cut out to embrace them.”

Since Region 10 spans all three main rivers and has several riverine communities, focus will be given to skilled persons residing there who will be given the opportunity to hone in on their skills so that they too can be awarded contracts. “Those small projects like repair
[to] health centres and repair [to] schools and so on, we believe that you can do and they have decided that yes they are going to have that done, and we intend to work with them and empower them so that they too can benefit and get a piece of the regional pie,” Gordon articulated.

COMMUNITY MUST BE THE MAIN BENEFICIARY
Over the years, residents of Region 10 have been complaining that despite billions being allocated to the region yearly, there is hardly tangible evidence of development and economic improvements. It has also been the concern that a lot of the money return to the Consolidated Fund, since the RDC would have failed to complete the yearly programme. Though this has been vehemently denied by regional officials, Gordon said that during his tenure, the community will feel the impact of the billions allocated and works will be completed in a timely manner. “It makes no sense that amount of money comes into the community and the community is not feeling the effect on that level, I see my role to ensure that happens… people must feel that and that is my responsibility, my role is to ensure that we do all that we possibly can to make sure that people feel that.”

Region 10 received a budgetary allocation of $3.4 billion for this year. Gordon said that he has already met with his officers and cautioned them against being behind schedule. Thus far, the region has embarked on several capital projects including the construction of a new RDC building in Speightland, the clearing of the site for the construction of the Bamia Nursery and Secondary Schools, as well repairs to the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School. Some $291 M has been allocated for capital works.