Dear Editor,

THE recent flooding that occurred in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara) is certainly cause for all residents to be concerned; and while I am not in a position to pronounce on the cause, effect and cure or remedy for what occurred in Region Three, I am in a position to say that the grave situation in Region Two was in no small way man made.

Stabroek News of Friday 13-12-2019 on headline C.D.C. on standby as floods hit Regions Two and Three, and the full story on page 3, reading the first two paragraphs tells it all.

There was gross negligence on the part of the regional administration.

I was a Regional Democratic Councillor for seven consecutive years and further to being an RDC Councillor, I served as a member of the Works and Agriculture Committees for almost all of those years. The drainage and irrigation system falls directly under the Works and Agriculture Committee, a statutory committee of the RDC, and is chaired by no less a person than the regional vice-chairman; the D & I Engineer reports directly to that Committee, which in turn has the RDC ratify or approve all decisions made by that committee.

To hear that no fuel was at the pumping station until after 09:00 hrs the Thursday morning and the pump attendant on that fateful day reported late for duty, is both unbelievable and unacceptable, any part of the world except in Guyana and these things have been going on for decades, but only in the Public Sector. I worked in the private sector in various capacities or to be more precise B K International at the Tiperu Quarry, Region Seven in the Mazaruni River, for years and nothing close to what was said to be responsible in no small way for the extensive flooding in the cultivated areas and elsewhere would never happen.
This region has several committees, the Agriculture, the D & I Committee with many engineers, the Water Management Committee and the Water Users Association, but the question is, are they serving the purpose for which they were appointed?

The APNU+AFC administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase and install pumps at strategic locations, but lo and behold when it matters most, no fuel is available at these locations when there was a reasonable expectation that at least eight hours before they got started they should have been in action,

Those that contributed significantly to this flooding by their actions or inactions must face the consequences. A full-scale investigation must be held, mainly to prevent a recurrence and let the chips fall where they may. Whether you are a rice farmer or not in the end we all will be losers and we all must be overly concerned. We must benefit from foresight and not only hindsight.

Regards
Archie W. Cordis