NDC Chairman fires back….Council drastically cuts overspending

Mar 17, 2016 News

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The back and forth between the chairman of the La Renaissance/Mon Repos Neighbourhood Council and the Vice Chairman of Region Four continues with more allegations of financial mischief emerging.
Last week the Regional Vice Chairman, Earl Lambert, made some damning allegations against the NDC Chairperson Annett Dass, accusing her of manipulating an Overseer attached to the Council and facilitating some financial irregularities.
This was after Dass and another Councilor had complained about the interference of Regional officials in the running of their NDC.
More recently, Dass, who is not seeking any position on the NDC at the upcoming Local Government Elections, is livid that her stewardship of the Council is being tarnished by what she described as falsehoods being peddled by the Regional Vice Chairman.
The Regional Vice Chairman had indicated that based on recommendations, the Overseer who was functioning up to late last year was sent on leave and was replaced by an Acting Overseer due to the unearthing of some financial irregularities.
Lambert had suggested that the NDC Chairman was therefore peeved at the move since she could no longer continue to manipulate senior employees of the NDC.
“So because she was manipulating him, she couldn’t manipulate the (acting overseer). On several occasions she would call her and tell her to make out payments. And she would ask for the backup, not (wanting) to spend the council’s money as directed by (Dass).”
“(Since) she wasn’t getting her way, she then decided that she was not going to sign off on the employees’ payments. So at times, even now, workers have not been paid. At Christmas time we had a situation where we were coming down to Christmas and she refused to sign the cheque orders for the workers to be paid,” the Regional Vice Chairman had said.
But according to Dass, this is far from the truth.
She said that she has no problem with the Acting Overseer, except that the Acting Overseer is not acting on the decisions made by the elected Council.
Dass noted that contrary to what Lambert is saying, the Acting Overseer was employed since 2014 based on the recommendations of herself and the rest of the Council.
The NDC Chairperson told this newspaper that while the Regional Vice Chairman is accusing her of condoning financial irregularities, it is because of her that the NDC has been able to have a whopping $13M in its bank account.
“The current Acting Overseer was found overspending Council money. That is why we held up the signing of some of the vouchers she presented for payment,” Dass explained.
According to Dass, one example of this is the servicing of the NDC’s tractor.
Dass explained that the tractor would usually be serviced by the operator himself at no cost to the NDC, except for the purchase of oil and filter.
“Now the tractor is being serviced elsewhere and we are seeing a huge bill for it,” the NDC Chairperson told this newspaper.
She said that in addition, the NDC’s bobcat has not been seen for two weeks and no one is saying where it is.
Dass told this newspaper that it is the Acting Overseer who is refusing to make up the stipend payments for Councilors, even though repeated requests have been made to have this done.
Another case of irregularity pointed out by Dass is the hiring of the security for the NDC compound at Lusignan.
She said that the NDC had fired the security guard after the disappearance of 30 gallons of fuel. The said security guard was rehired by the Acting Overseer without the Council’s knowledge and approval.
“Neither of them could give account for the missing fuel,” Dass stated.
Referring to accusations leveled against her with regards to work done by prisoners, the NDC Chairperson said that all payments to the prisoners are done by a cheque made out to the officer in charge of the Lusignan Prison.
“It is not the Chairman who examines the work. The Overseer, the Works Committee Chairman and the Superintendent of Works are the persons who have to sign off on the vouchers before any money can be paid. I’m not responsible for that,” Dass declared.
With regards to the encashing of cheques with NDC revenue, Dass said that she met that practice when she took over and it is still being done presently.
She said that the recent allegations made against her were baseless, especially since she has been directly responsible for turning around the finances of the NDC.
She maintained that the Regional officials, through the Acting Overseer, are negatively affecting the progress of capital works earmarked for the communities they serve.
“We have piles of crusher run and other road repairs material lying idle and yet there are many roads in dire need of repairs,” she said.
Dass told this newspaper that the Mon Repos/La Renaissance NDC is not short on funds but it is the interference of Regional officials that is impacting negatively on their work programme.
“Many people will want to say that the NDC is not doing anything, but we want people to know that we are up against some people who do not want to see progress,” the NDC Chairperson said.
“I want them to know that I’m leaving the NDC with $13M. Let’s hope that whoever takes over from me puts it to good use for the benefit of the people,” she stated.

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