Dear Editor,
I shall appreciate if you will publish my story in the hope that some effort will be made by government officials to pay me for work done. I have been trying for several years now, and am getting the royal run around. On January 22, 2013 I wrote a letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education; it was also copied to the Minister of Education, Mr Liverpool and Mr Rice. The details are as follows:
In December 2008, 1 was contracted to perform weeding and cleaning functions by an official [name given] of the Ministry of Education. I did jobs at 1) Comenius Primary School in Queenstown; 2) Charlestown Secondary School; and 3) Alexander Village Nursery School. All jobs were signed off as satisfactorily completed by the school heads and payment recommended.
In January 2009, all required documents and vouchers in the sum of one hundred and sixty thousand ($160,000) dollars were submitted for payment to Ms Colleen in the Buildings Department. I have been waiting since then ‒ January 2009 ‒ for payment.
First, I heard that there were no funds; then I had to wait on the passage of the budget. Next, I had brief conversations with the then Minister and PS, and was told that they were “working on it” and things were “in process.”
It has been over four years and I have still not been paid for services rendered. Last November, I visited another department and was shown my name in the computer, and then informed that there is still “no word from Finance.”
Yours faithfully,
Raja Singh
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Ms Delma Nedd, the PS in the Ministry of Education for any comment she might wish to make.
