Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 30, 2017 Letters
Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to a letter by the Region 5 REO, Mr. Ovid Morrison, published on June 16, 2017 captioned “Once budget is approved REO does not have to go to council to ratify every project execution. “But before I dwell on the content of his letter, Morrison must explain to the flood victims of Region 5 why, at a time of disaster when farmers are suffering the loss of millions of dollars in crop and livestock due to heavy flooding, he was seen in extracurricular mode in Mahaica Creek with his buddy, APNU+AFC Councillor, Abel Seetaram.
The REO had earlier refused to meet with the Regional Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal who heads the Regional Disaster Management Committee to discuss the plight of those communities under water in Region 5, and he refused to allow his officers to participate in the emergency meeting of this committee. Because of Morrison’s insistence that the Regional Chairman apologize to him before they meet, monies that Morrison controls could not have been released to the communities to aid in flood relief. Minister Bulkan, when are you going to rein in this out-of-control REO and save Region 5 from disaster?
Now to his letter. The Chief Executive Officer of a region is the Clerk to the Regional Democratic Council and Clerk to all committees of the RDC. The committees of the RDC are responsible for the proper management of the affairs of the programmes identified and approved by the council. The Regional Budget once approved, is given to the RDC to implement its programmes for the year. In the interest of transparency and accountability, it is incumbent upon the REO to ensure that the RDC committees monitor and ratify every policy and project approved by the Council. The Chief Executive Officer therefore has no authority to implement a project on his own, and must first seek the approval of the Council so that progress can be monitored and ratified by the Works Committee.
By law, the management and development of the RDC resources are the responsibility of the RDC and not the Regional Executive Officer alone. The REO, Mr Ovid Morrison should be guided by the Local Democratic Organs Act, chapter 28:09 section (33) which reads: “In the management and development of its region, every council shall be guided by the general policies of the Government and the national objectives as set by the Government, and shall devise its development plans and programmes to ensure consistency with such policies and objectives; and in the performance of his functions each councillor shall endeavour to co-operate with every other councillor and with all socio-economic institutions in the area.”
In his letter, Morrisson admitted that monies were used from the Regional Budget to clear away the land at the Naarstigheid site after the cash-crop farmers were evicted. This was done sometime in the month of February 2017. I urge the Auditor General to carry out an investigation on how the money was spent, and to determine why the Works Committee of the RDC was not involved in this project and therefore could not have monitored the work carried out there. Despite what the REO want us to believe, the work that was done at this site was of a capital nature. Fresh vegetation and large trees were cleared and new drains were put in. And since the RDC had never done any works there before, monies expended on this project could not be justified as “maintenance” work. These were Capital Expenditure not Current.
What is puzzling is that there are many play grounds, canals and health centers under the direct control of the Region, which are in bad condition and need cleaning. These include the Hope Town School canal; the No. 5 school compound; and the Woodley Park Playground. Why did the REO not clean those instead?
Mr. Morrison needs to remind himself that the Regional Chairman is not the RDC alone. There are other Councilors who should be representing the people in every community of Region 5. But often now, the RDC statutory meetings are broken up by this very REO and the APNU+AFC Councilors he control. The real issues affecting the people of Region 5 cannot be represented by the elected representative of the people while the REO stubbornly and childishly insist on an apology from the Regional Chairman.
His theory of conflict resolution as it relates to the teachers’ protest should be evidence base, because the Prime Minister of Guyana does not share the same view. When the teachers protested in front of the PM’s residence, he came out and spoke to the teachers. But unlike the Prime Minister, Morrison knows nothing of diplomacy and arrogantly denied the teachers an audience with him when he was called to do so.
And although he has since recanted under relentless pressure by the Teachers Union and the Laws that proved him wrong, Morrison has yet to apologize to the teachers and hundreds of students whose lives he disrupted during this ordeal.
Now that everyone knows he broke the Law by withholding teachers’ salaries, and then telling the government and the Public Accounts Committee about the $80 million that he claimed was overpaid to teachers in order to justify his actions, I wait patiently to see what disciplinary action will be levied against the REO, Ovid Morrison by the Finance Secretary, Dr. Hector Butts in a similar no-nonsense approach he took to terminate the services of former REO Raphael Downes.
Or will Minister of Communities, the Hon. Ronald Bulkan interfere and remain silent on Morrison’s autocratic leadership that resulted in his vindictive transfer of Staff Nurse/Midwife Sherilyn Marks without due process, and covered up Morrison’s activities like the Carrol Joseph drug abuse to protect one of their own. Harry Gil
Member of Parliament, PPP
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