Region Five Chairman lands in more hot water

Apr 21, 2017 News

…questions credibility of REO

It was on August 1, 2016 that President David Granger, at Ithaca, West Bank Berbice, caused Region Five Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal, to shake hands with APNU AFC Councilor, Carol Smith Joseph, Government Chief Whip in the RDC, thereby bringing to an end a six-month stand-off that came about after Smith accused the Regional Chairman of being disrespectful to President Granger.
Ramphal refused to offer an apology as demanded by councilors for the coalition. In turn they refused to allow Chairman Ramphal to preside over the statutory meetings.
Once again, the Regional Chairman has found himself in hot water. It was the statutory RDC meeting, April 20. APNU+ AFC Councilor, Abel Seetaram, who was on the floor at the time addressing the meeting, stated that heavy duty equipment that was deployed to carry out works within a particular NDC instead ended up spending several days doing work on private property of the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the particular NDC.
Councilor Seetaram told the meeting that upon receiving information he had, the REO, Mr. Ovid Morrison, who is also the clerk of the RDC, accompanied him to see what was happening. The chairman in responding to the councilor said that he needed to investigate the matter, ignoring the fact that the REO, the chief administrator of Region Five, had visited the area, according to Councilor Seecharran.
Mr. Morrison advised Mr. Ramphal that by his response to Councilor Seecharran, Mr Ramphal was questioning his credibility. As the councilor continued his report to the meeting, the Regional Chairman insisted that an investigation needed to be conducted, and he said that he would need evidence. He also said that he would have to see photographs of what the councilor was talking about.
As the chairman continued to challenge Councilor Seetaram on what he was reporting to the Council, the REO said to the chairman that he, REO, would be unable to remain in the meeting while the chairman continues to question his credibility/integrity. Mr. Ramphal’s response was, “Well, you can walk out whenever you feel like.”
Morrison walked out of the meeting, and the members of the coalition were at his heels, clearly in support. The various heads of departments who would normally attend such meetings followed shortly after.
Addressing the PPP councilors who remained in their seats, Chairman Ramphal said that he was surprised that the meeting came to such an abrupt end, as he was about to deal with the point made by the councilor that the REO had seen the extent of unauthorized work done on the two private properties.
In an invited comment, Mr. Ramphal claimed that it was never his intention to question Morrison’s credibility.
Everyone is now waiting to see if Mr. Ramphal will quickly offer an apology to Mr. Morrison and allow the council to set about business, or whether there will be a stand-off when the RDC meeting is called for the third Thursday in May.

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Region Five Chairman lands in more hot water

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