Kwakwani businesswoman Deborah Alert says she had no knowledge of her appointment as a member on the newly-installed Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the community and she is demanding an explanation from the Minister of Local Government Ganga Persaud.
Alert said that she became aware of her being a part of the IMC only after reading an article published in Tuesday’s edition of the Stabroek News.
“My mother was reading this papers and she say, ‘Debbie look, you name in the papers’ and when I go I see that me name in there as a member of the IMC. And first thing, I don’t even know what is an IMC,” she stated.
When contacted, Persaud acknowledged that Alert’s complaint “may be factual” but he said that the ministry selects members to be a part of an IMC from a list submitted from stakeholders in the area and does not consult directly with individuals.
He explained that organisations have submitted names to the ministry and they are the ones who should have consulted and gained the approval of the person they nominated. The ministry selects persons from a list drawn up from all the submissions, he said.
“The ministry don’t really consult and talk to individuals and no one knows if they will be selected,” the minister emphasised.
He said that it would be “moral decency” for an organisation to speak with and gain the approval of the person they are nominating before submitting their names.
An irate Alert explained that a few months ago, another resident was collecting names of persons interested in the development of the community and she had given the woman her name but she was not aware it was for the IMC.
She added that there has never been a follow-up since she gave her name for the development committee. “Since I put down my name I never check back and them never say anything and now for them to put me in the IMC without telling me is just not the way of doing things and I am not accepting that,” she said.
Alert added that she is not the only person in the community who is unaware of their appointment to the IMC and they are requesting that Persaud provide them with an immediate explanation.
“I don’t know what the motive of the minister is but I want to say that they need to be more professional and if we were appointed, why weren’t we sworn in as yet,” she added.
The Government Information Agency had reported that Minister within the Ministry of Local Government Norman Whittaker dissolved the Kwakwani NDC and installed the IMC. But a wide cross-section of the Upper Berbice River community was outraged on Tuesday at what was dubbed the “shady installation” of the IMC. “We the residents of Kwakwani would like to express our total disgust… the Minister within the Ministry of Local Government [has] abused his elected office to trample and impose an IMC in the Kwakwani community,” community leader Jocelyn Morian, who was nominated to speak on behalf of other residents, told Stabroek News.
In May, residents of Kwakwani who were against the proposed installation of an IMC protested in front of the Local Government office, where a public consultation was in progress, bringing it to an abrupt end. The public discourse had gone on for less than half an hour in the Upper Berbice/Upper Demerara mining community with fewer than 15 persons in attendance.
Apart from Alert, Sachie Parvaton, Krishen Singh, Winston Rozario, Kay Forde, Evelyn Fredericks, Pam Rambarran, Ulric Henry, Glenroy Shepherd, Vivette Williams, Delma McPherson, Winston Clarke, Harlon Sampson, Hewitt Logan, and Harlon Bethune were identified as members of the IMC.
According to GINA, training is being done for members of the IMC, so as to ensure that they better understand certain issues such as the legal framework within which NDCs operate, as well as their specific roles and responsibilities.
