Dear Editor,
In an interview with LRTVS Channel 10 in Berbice, the Regional Vice-Chairman of Region Six, Mr Dennis De Roop accused the Kilcoy/Hampshire Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) of not being ‘proactive’. He claimed that if the NDC was proactive then the current flooding in Nigg and Belvedere South would have been reduced or averted. I want to remind Mr De Roop that three months ago we made representation to both him and the REO Dr Ramayya with regard to the cleaning of the sideline which is so clogged with vegetation that the water moves at a trickle. We were so ‘proactive’ that we placed this and a sideline at Hampshire in our Annual Budget. However, two weeks ago Mr De Roop during our NDC budget discussion told me that he will remove the excavation of the said sidelines from the NDC budget and that the Region will provide a large excavator to do the necessary work. I agreed. My entire NDC can vouch for this.
On Sunday, 24th July, some residents complained to me about the dire flood situation they were experiencing due to the massive rainfall the previous night. I immediately called Mr De Roop who informed me that the only large excavator in the Region is down due to electrical problems, but he will try to get it going. Can you imagine that a Region with a billion dollar budget has only one functioning excavator? This is gross incompetence! Ironically Mr De Roop is not only the Vice-Chairman but the head of the Works Committee. An inventory should be made with regard to the machinery and equipment and their current status. I visited the flooded area and had a first- hand look at the situation which was quite bad, so I then tried to call Mr De Roop to impress upon him the emergency of the situation, but his phones went unanswered.
I then spoke to the Albion Estate Manager, Mr Shivpersaud, who assured me that they are working all their pumps to alleviate the flood situation. But I know that he was more interested in saving the cane cultivation rather than the residents when he declined to offer the usual assistance of providing a drainage pump. It was the practice for GuySuCo to provide pumps to assist in the drainage of the areas.
He made it clear that these are different times and that any such help must be sanctioned by Head Office. It is ironical that we were refused help from this estate which actually owes our NDC more than $12 million in current and arrears rates and taxes.
On Monday 25th July, I again visited the area at 6 am, by which time the floodwater had risen a lot more. I again attempted to call Me De Roop but to no avail. I then called PPP Executive Secretary, Mr Mustapha to make contact with him. In desperation I went to De Roop’s home at around 7.30 am but was told that he was still asleep. Imagine the Vice-Chairman and acting Chairman was fast asleep at a time when his Region is under floodwater!
At that point we decided that we will have to solve this problem ourselves, so we decided to use the small excavator assigned to our NDC and with the help of civic minded residents and some CIIP workers we began cleaning the blocked drainage trench. It must be noted that the small excavator is unable to clean the entire width of the trench but there was no other option. Mr De Roop unashamedly tried to take credit for this when he claimed on TV that he deployed the small excavator to do the work. Everything was in control by the time he made his grand appearance on the scene. The Overseer and I were responsible for this deployment, not him.
Prior to this the REO had also given an undertaking to clean the said drainage trench. In fact, he sent a representative from a contractor to estimate the cost of the work which was to be done. However, we were later told that the Region’s budget for drainage has already been overspent so the RDC cannot pay for the said work. Despite all of this we were accused by the Vice-Chairman of not being proactive.
In conclusion, I want Mr De Roop to understand that this particular drainage trench was last cleaned more than two years ago and he took office as Vice-Chairman more than one year ago, and he should have been apprised of this situation by the previous Chairman of the NDC who actually lives just across this trench. Since we took over the NDC three months ago, we made numerous representations to the RDC through the Vice-Chairman, yet he had the audacity to claim that we should have been proactive. These are the petty politicians who lack the administrative skills needed to run this Region but are intent on blaming others for their inadequacies.
Yours faithfully,
Haseef Yusuf
Chairman
Kilcoy/Hampshire NDC
