Neglect caused recent flood in Essequibo

Dear Editor,

THE Kaieteur News of Friday, September 14, 2018 on Page 20, carried a story under the caption, “Heavy rains leave Essequibo communities under floodwaters.” Paragraph three of the story is indicating to readers that Acting Regional Chairman Ms Nandranie Coonjah disclosed that communities from Adventure to Johanna Cecilia were flooded after six hours of continuous rainfall. Further, the report revealed that residents from Maria’s Lodge were affected by floodwaters as deep as four feet.

Paragraph four of the said story stated that the Onderneeming koker, which is responsible for draining the communities, has been inoperable for quite some time. After promises made by the region’s Drainage and Irrigation Authority (D&I) to have the koker repaired, no such action was taken.

Paragraph five states that as a result of the broken koker and inoperable pump, water from excessive rainfall quickly flooded these small communities.

The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), like all other regions, consists of many statutory committees, including the Works and Agriculture Committee. When I was a regional councillor, I was a member of this committee; it was chaired by no less a person than the regional vice-chairman, and our monthly meeting used to take, on average, about three-and-a-half hours, because there were representatives from many departments, namely, the Engineer from the Drainage & Irrigation Department; the Engineer from the Sea Defence Department; the Roads Engineer; the Building Engineer; representatives from the Rice Producers Association (RPA); The Water Users Association; officials from the Agriculture Extension Division; the Crops & Livestock Division; the Fisheries Division; and representatives from the political parties holding seats at the RDC, etc. And each head of department or division had to submit a report to be discussed and forwarded to the RDC’s statutory meeting to be again discussed and approved for the necessary action to be taken.

While I am not sure if the Works and Agriculture Committee is structured differently now, but if the Drainage and Irrigation Authority Engineer or representative is a member of this committee, then I am sure that the issue of this pump and koker would have been brought up for discussion at both levels (Works and Agriculture and RDC meetings) the agriculture meeting that is chaired by the said person whom the reporter quoted extensively, and whom I believe is a major player in having this problem solved.

The question is: Why was nothing done? I strongly believe that this flooding was man-made, because after all these months, as this story is leading readers to believe, absolutely nothing was done to prevent this flooding.

In times like these, persons who are being paid to ensure that these structures are maintained would exonerate themselves from blame; but the truth must be told, so that the entire region and not only those affected must know, so as not to have a repeat of this situation in other areas as well.

Regards
Archie W Cordis

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.