Dear Editor,
I read with some surprise a letter written by one Charles Sohan, an engineer who functioned at the Ministry of Works. His allegations are unfounded, wicked and perhaps politically motivated. One of the issues raised was fully ventilated after being brought before the Ombudsman Justice Van Sertima. I shall deal with the two matters raised.
The question with the steel sheet piling. On a visit to the East Coast it was discovered that quantities of sheet piling were left on the ground and were very untidy. The Engineer, Lawrence Charles, pointed out these were ends left after driving the piling to ab initio or corpino, the rest is cut off and could not be used since these were ends of various lengths. An Overseer who was with me said that it could be used to secure the lot I just acquired in Lodge. I wrote the Engineer, through the Permanent Secretary, offering to purchase these discarded ends. The PS employed the appropriate administrative procedures. The details were fully ventilated before the Ombudsman, and it was found I did nothing improper or illegal.
Sohan’s letter also implied that I used MWH workers to put in these piles. A complete distortion. The facts are as follows: At that time, at the conclusion of works described as a project, the workers were laid off. At the instance of John Went, a retired Overseer, a few of these workers were utilised to put in place the above mentioned sheet piling. They were all paid by me. In fact, they were all happy since I paid them a similar sum they received before being laid off. On the other issue raised by Mr. Sohan, I challenge him to present the evidence to support his allegation about trucks. I never owned nor was part of any Trucking Company.
I expect Mr. Sohan, who I know, if he has any sense of decency and subscribes to the truth, to apologise for this distortion and total untruth. I demand an apology from Mr. Sohan for his unwarranted assault on my character.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green
Elder
