Veteran member of the Region Ten Democratic Council, Charles Sampson, refused to accept the diary that was distributed to the newly inaugurated members of the council at their first meeting on Thursday.
Sampson, who was a member of the Council when Parliament was dissolved, paving the way for the May 11 regional and general elections, stressed that he had spoken about the diary before – in the previous council when the diaries were issued at the beginning of the year – and he was surprised that the similar diaries were being distributed to the current councillors.
Highlighting that the diary is written in Spanish and makes no reference to Guyana, Sampson said it’s an insult to issue such a diary to the Regional Democratic Councillors.
“When I came into this room, I refused this diary. I have been saying, Chairman, I am not going to accept these diaries. It’s not the first time I have spoken about this,” Sampson said. “This diary is written in Spanish. It’s an insult to the average councillor… Whoever has been purchasing these diaries, we have said it before: bring diaries that are written in English. You got the diary in Spanish; it doesn’t mention Guyana inside. You got the whole of South America – Guyana is not mentioned here – and the countries that are mentioned… it’s written in Spanish …. As I said Chairman, I don’t want it. If the other councillors want it, I don’t want it.”
The Regional Chairman said that he needed to apologize to Councillor Sampson. Adding that Sampson’s observation was a valid one, Morian said similar diaries were offered in Parliament and the diaries were withdrawn. He said the Parliamentarians were asking for a diary that had the English language from cover to cover. “So, they had to move all those diaries back and fresh diaries were offered …. Whether we have the wherewithal to buy new ones, I don’t know. But I am drawing a parallel that it happened in Parliament and the clerk immediately withdrew all the diaries and diaries in English were purchased.”
Morian then asked the Clerk of Council to take a note of the matter. He said it raises the issue of the manner of purchasing, where and from whom purchases are made on behalf of the Region. Stating that “quality is very important” the Regional Chairman added that purchasing would be one of the areas to which he would be paying keen attention with the Finance Committee of the RDC. “We want it to be changed in the approaches,” he said, adding that he would not say more because he is not on the finance committee.
