Opposition Councillors are also to be blamed for substandard works

Nov 05, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
Please grant space to ventilate some political issues in our country.
It is our culture that if you belong to a particular political party then your party members are infallible and it is conventional that you do not speak out against their wrongdoings until the point that you want to leave that party. We desperately need to change that type of practice if we really love our party.
The great Mahatma Gandhi put this succinctly when he said, “Be the change you want to see in this world.” So why not be the change you want to see in your party, instead of quitting? We must not be fettered and be afraid to speak the truth and as Gandhi again said, “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth” and one of the seven deadly sins is, “Politics without principle”.
On November 1, 2012, it was alleged at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) meeting that an AFC Councillor in the Works Committee tried to solicit bribe from a Contractor in Blackbush Polder for passing sub-standard work. This Councillor never brought this to the attention of the RDC at any time that this contractor or any contractor was involved in doing sub-standard work. He signed and certified all the works that he visited.
The said contractor gave a written statement which was read at the meeting. We always blame the government for sub-standard work but the question is, how can we really blame the government when opposition Councillors are certifying work that they know are sub-standard?
Now this Councillor is claiming that he is being framed because that contractor is guilty of sub-standard work, which he certified as being correct according to the stipulations in the contract. This AFC Councillor claimed that the Vice-Chairman, who is the head of the Works Committee, instructed him to accept the work even if it is 80% correct!
In other words, this Councillor is willing to rob taxpayers 20% of the monies that they have contributed to the economic and social development of our country.
This is unacceptable from any Councillor, especially one from the opposition party. Every day we are hearing about the poor quality of work executed by contractors but all these works were also certified by opposition Councillors! Are they not culpable?
I want to draw to the attention of all Councillors that when we were sworn in we took an Oath which says that we will do our jobs without ‘fear, favour, affection or ill-will according to the best of my judgement and ability’; so at no time should councillors compromise their functions. I stood up and among other things said that this Councillor should do the honourable thing and resign. If he is willing to accept a standard of 80%, then he is not fit to function in the capacity of a Councillor! By his own admission he is guilty of a breach in his duty to the people of this country.
On Saturday ,November 3, on DTV 8 a known AFC member took offence to what I had said at the RDC meeting and questioned my loyalty to the AFC and suggested that I was in the process of ‘crossing the floor’ and that I should have defended the AFC Councillor. I will never condone wrongdoings, be it on the government side or on the opposition side.
This member, who is an attorney by profession, also questioned my legal knowledge and that I had passed judgement on the Councillor without a trial. If I could recall this is the modus operandi of the opposition but this presumption of innocence does not have any effect when the said Councillor admitted that he was accepting 80% sub-standard work.
In conclusion it gives me great satisfaction to know that I am not alone as Gandhi once said; “I should love to satisfy all, if I possibly can; but in trying to satisfy all, I may be able to satisfy none. I have therefore, arrived at the conclusion that the best course is to satisfy my conscience and leave the world to form its own judgement, favourable or otherwise.”
Haseef Yusuf

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Opposition Councillors are also to be blamed for substandard works

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