The Region Ten Democratic Council has unanimously approved a recommendation by PPP/C MP Odinga Lumumba to debar a Linden-based contractor from obtaining future work from its administration until he completes an unfinished project.
The recommendation was made in a letter to the Region Ten Administration in which Lumumba pointed out that the project, which involves the fencing of the Ituni Community Playfield, should have been completed in 2012 as contracted.
Regional Executive Officer (REO), Yolanda Hilliman, in her capacity as Clerk of Council, read the letter at the RDC’s statutory meeting on Thursday June 6.
“I hope you realize that this delay is because of the poor performance of the contractor and your administration and, moreso, the contractor’s part,” Lumumba said in the letter. He then went on to say that the incomplete project has inhibited government’s ability to make much needed input into the social well-being of the people of Ituni.
Consequently, he recommended that “extreme measures should be taken to avoid the recurrence of this type of embarrassment to the Regional Administration and the government.” “Further, I hope that this contractor be denied any future contract until the Ituni contract is completed,” Lumumba wrote. The PPP/C MP then requested an accurate report both on the financial and physical aspects of the project and including changes to the contract if any were made.
During discussions on the letter, the Clerk of Council said the contract came under the President’s Youth Choice Initiative. She also disclosed that the Region has oversight on the project.
Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon, said the project is in a miserable state and the recommendation that the contractor be denied more work until its completion is fair. He also said employees on the project have complained that there are outstanding payments while others have told him that the contractor has deviated from the scope of the project.
“Members of the community have complained that the contractor moved away from many of the specifics of the project in terms of quality and size of wood, etc.,” Solomon said, adding that the letter from Lumumba “was not an intrusive intervention” into the affairs of the Region.
Solomon also said that the contractor has caused the administration and the RDC considerable embarrassment and has greatly inconvenienced the Ituni community. He then called on the Region’s Works Committee to obtain all relevant information on the contract by the next meeting and make a recommendation that any breach by the contractor would have implications for the contractor’s future relationship with the Region Ten Administration.
