Dear Editor,
A few weeks ago a letter was penned in your newspaper (‘Motorcyclists hired in the Rupununi by GECOM still awaiting payment’) regarding outstanding payments to contractors in the Rupununi for motorcycles that were hired during the registration exercise. Your caption beneath that letter stated that it was sent to GECOM for any comment that they might wish to make. Unsurprisingly no response was made by GECOM.
A few days ago another enquiry was made with the Lethem office and the response was still the same. Nothing has been done to facilitate payment of the outstanding monies owed.
This repeated enquiry for monies owed to us for works done for GECOM is becoming very frustrating and inconvenient. Why are we being treated like beggars for money that was earned through hard work?
One observes how quickly the senior officials jump to the defence of GECOM when there is some public criticism of their operation. But yet when a poor man makes a public appeal for monies owed by this same organisation − monies owed from over one year ago − it seems as though this same hierarchy of officials suddenly go blind and deaf.
Another appeal is made to the management of GECOM or any other authority to please intervene in this situation so that the outstanding payments can be made. The voice of a poor man is very small but that should not be a reason for an organisation as large as GECOM to run roughshod over us. The phrase ‘out of sight out of mind’ seems to be very apt for those of us who are still awaiting payment in the Rupununi. Because I am certain that if this payment was due to contractors from the coastland then it would have been resolved a long time ago.
There are many political parties who come to the Rupununi during campaign time and give the impression that they care for the people of the Rupununi.
These same parties are represented on GECOM. But it seems that since there are no elections nearby, none of them have sufficient interest to force GECOM to deal with such issues as the outstanding payments to people from the Rupununi.
One sincerely hopes that some time soon GECOM will finally honour those outstanding payments due to us.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
Editor’s note
We sent a copy of this letter to Mr Vishnu Persaud, the Public Relations Officer of GECOM, for any comments he might have wished to make and received no response.
