Police are now investigating the theft of nearly all the materials from the dismantled building that housed the Aurora Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools and Region Two Regional Executive Officer (REO) Rupert Hopkinson has blamed the situation on a “culture of dishonesty” in the region.
According to Hopkinson, roughly 80% of the materials is missing, despite instructions he gave for it to be taken to the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) office.
A resident of the region, Archie Cordis, in a letter that was published in the Stabroek News on February 20, stated that all the material went missing after the school building had been dismantled on January 18.
Cordis noted that the building was carefully dismantled in order to preserve the materials and zinc. He said residents from the community approached Hopkinson to have some of the materials in order to build or extend pens for the rearing of poultry, livestock, pigs and cattle and the REO advised that all interested persons should put their request in writing and send it to his office for consideration.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” he, however, added.
Cordis said concerned residents had contacted the REO but after a discussion they were not satisfied with the reasons he had given for not being able, at that point, to account for the “people’s material.”
“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,” he said, while noting that it was generally agreed that they would prefer to see the materials given to the Muslim, Hindu and Christian churches in Aurora, and to the many playgrounds in the region for construction and extension of pavilions.
Cordis added that lot of people from within the community are totally dissatisfied or are getting to the point of being angry “as more and more information is unravelling in the public domain,” particularly since they were told that millions had been spent on renovation and extension of the building 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,” he said.
In response, Hopkinson told Stabroek News that he was extremely disappointed at the situation. “In Region Two there is a culture of dishonesty and the people and system are damaged,” he said, while adding that it needs to be investigated.
Hopkinson refuted the claim that all the materials were missing and said that some were transported to the RDC office. “It is not true that the entire thing is missing. What I’ve seen tells me about 80% of the materials are missing. I know at least three truckloads were taken to the RDC office,” he said, before pointing out that while it is “practice if not policy” that the materials automatically go back to the region, he had given instructions for such to be done. “I can’t be running behind trucks carrying the materials. I gave the instructions for the materials to be taken back to the RDC office and that everyone who wanted should put their requests in writing so all could’ve been addressed as one,” he explained, while noting that instructions were given to the Regional Engineer, in the presence of the contractor, consultant, headmistress of the school and others, to see that the materials were taken to the RDC office.
“…But we [the region] have lost our manners. We don’t know how to act civil,” he said. He added that some of the materials were spotted at some residences and that the disappearing of the materials was no accident and was a deliberate act.
Hopkinson said that after the materials were noticed missing, he contacted the divisional commander, who had instructed the Aurora Police Station to detain the drivers of the truck but he noted that this was not done.
Hopkinson added that the matter was now in the hands of the police as an investigation is ongoing.
