Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Region Two councillors accuse REO of deceit
“The Regional Executive Officer, Rupert Hopkinson.”
Councillors of the Region Two Democratic Council [RDC] are now accusing the Regional Executive Officer of being deceitful in submitting the recent 2019 budget proposals.
These accusations surround the fact that the REO, Mr. Rupert Hopkinson, submitted a budget proposal for 2019 without the mandatory signatures of the RDC councillors. Councillors further allege that the REO reused an attendance sheet which contained their signatures from the previous year.
They further believe that the REO was deceitful by reusing signatures from the previous year, and that the budget proposal for 2019 may have been tampered with.
According to Nate Ram, a counsellor from the Alliance for Change [AFC], a number of projects presented in the 2019 budget proposals were objected to by the RDC. The councillor laid claims, which further indicated that some of the proposals were to benefit private individuals.
Nate Ram explained, “With respect to DNI culvert and bridges, we noticed that some of them will benefit some private individuals. [Councillors] wanted to visit these sites and based on surveys some of the proposed projects will be done on private estates. For instance, they were installing a tube to carry water to a farmer’s rice farm.”
The councillor said that after field visits were made to verify some of the proposed projects, the Budget was supposed to return to the RDC for a final deliberation. This, he claimed, did not happen. On the contrary, the REO without final consultation, submitted the draft proposal without the councillor’s signature.
Kaieteur News understands that this issue was raised at the RDC statutory meeting on Tuesday. When the REO failed to offer a clear explanation on the issue, two AFC councillors walked out of the meeting.
Commenting on the issue last Tuesday, Councillor Arnold Adams, representing the People’s Progressive Party Civic [PPP], questioned how could the government officials from Georgetown accept a proposal that the councillors did not sign off.
Adams added, “Minster Dominic Gaskin said that the budget is the RDC budget. We should’ve known exactly what happened.”
The REO on the other hand claims that by not affixing their signatures, councillors were using a delaying strategy.
He added, “I contacted the Chairman and he said that he was going to sign off on the proposal, but to date he didn’t…The Councillors are aware of the urgency and they should’ve ensured that they signed.” When asked whether councillors were given a specific date to sign off, the REO did not provide a clear answer.
In the meantime, all efforts made by this publication to contact the Regional Chairman for a comment proved futile. [Romario Blair]
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