Dear Editor,
On Monday, January 18, 2016 the Aurora Primary and Nursery School building which once also housed the secondary school was dismantled by a contactor in order that a new concrete and wooden building could be erected on the very site. This building was carefully taken down to preserve the materials and zinc.
As expected the residents from the community made an approach to the Regional Executive Officer Mr Rupert Hopkinson to have some of the materials in order for them to build or extend pens for the rearing of poultry, livestock, pigs and cattle. The REO rightly advised those persons to put their request in writing and send it to his office for consideration, because all the materials would be taken to Anna Regina and taken into the custody of the Regional administration.
These materials were then loaded into trucks by the workers on site on different dates. I must say that some time during the hours of darkness, the trucks headed in the direction of Anna Regina where we all know, materials of all types as well as equipment are lodged, stored and parked, for the Region.
More than a week after the last of about twenty trucks laden with materials left the Aurora School situated right next to the Aurora Police Station, it was discovered that not a single truck with materials had turned up at the ministry location where they were intended to be stored.
The REO was contacted by concerned citizens of the community and other areas of the Region, and as a result, he made contact with the persons from Aurora, myself included. A discussion was held with us on Sunday, 31st January; we were not impressed with the reasons he advanced for not being able at that point in time to account for the people’s materials.
We are contending, among other things, that our grandparents, parents, ourselves, our children and in some cases, our grandchildren who attended that school ‒ maybe in a different structure ‒ from time to time, through the Parent Teachers Association and other means made a significant contribution to the delivery of education, and it is galling to see the school materials stolen from us. It is generally agreed we would have preferred to see these materials given to the Muslim, Hindu and Christian Churches in Aurora, and to the many playgrounds in the Region for the construction and extension of pavilions.
I am saying a lot of people from within the community, that is to say Good Hope-Pomona and elsewhere are totally dissatisfied, or are getting to the point of being angry as more and more information is unravelling in the public domain, because they all know how many millions of dollars they were told were spent on renovation and extension during the last decade or so. Persons, particularly the REO, who is the Accounting Officer for the Region, must say how much they know, when they knew it and what they did.
It is interesting to note that I caused a letter to be published in the Kaieteur News on Friday, January 15, on page 31, under the caption ‘The story of a missing Heart Machine’ that also mentioned the disappearance of a dental equipment. At the time of writing this letter I am not sure if the authority has located this priceless piece of equipment or if persons were held for questioning.
Now less than a month later it is the story of a missing school. Now what should we expect? Failing to hold a thorough investigation into this nasty act would be an indictment of the regional authorities.
It is the belief of many people that this issue would add to the long list that already exists under the previous administration. I hope that they are wrong.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
