Region Eight Chairman Mark Crawford says that the region will be examining options with regards to the Regional Democratic Council’s no-confidence motion against the Regional Executive Officer Ronald Harsawack, while maintaining that it was made as a result of non-cooperation.
In July, a no-confidence motion was brought by APNU and passed by a majority of the members of the RDC against Harsawack. Eight of the 15 members of the RDC backed the motion, which was based on a series of complaints against the REO. Minister of Local Govern-ment Ganga Persaud has said that the RDC has no jurisdiction over appointed officials.
At an AFC news conference on Wednesday, Crawford, saying that he wished to “clear the air,” noted that the council’s decision to move the motion of no-confidence against the REO “was based solely on the failure of the REO to cooperate with the council.” He said that when put to the vote, the council passed the no-confidence motion because they agreed that the REO “was on a path to frustrate the work of the Council.”
Crawford said that while he does not want to enter into a war of words with the Minister over the issue, he wanted to set the record straight. “The no-confidence motion passed by the Council had nothing to do with understanding of procurement or road contracts and it is not a personal issue,” he said in response to statements by Persaud, reported by the Government Information Agency (GINA) that “the lack of knowledge by the Regional Chairman regarding the procurement procedures in that Region, coupled with the seemingly lack of knowledge of the regional administration functions and the guidelines under which they operate, would have contributed to the current state of affair.”
Crawford said that the council is elected by the people and “we owe it to the people to ensure that work is carried out that will improve their community. When government-appointed public servants do not cooperate with the councillors then the will of the people is not respected.” He said that in June, he was forced to write the REO with regards to his non-cooperation with the council.
“The people of Region Eight must not be made to suffer because they voted a particular way, whether the government controls the region or an opposition party, the residents of Region Eight are as much Guyanese as the residents of Region Five or Six and the government appointed REO must not be encouraged and allowed to penalise the residents of Region Eight,” he said.
“We have seen the lengths to which the residents of Region Ten had to go before their concerns were addressed by the government. We do not want to go the same route but the government must note that Region Eight has serious concerns and the government appointed REO must not continue to frustrate the Council’s efforts to address these concerns,” he declared.
Crawford said that it is time for laws that would ensure that representatives elected by the people are given the authority and support to work in the best interest of the people.
