Ramayya resigns as Coordinator of Rapid Response Taskforce

Sep 17, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Coordinator for the Region Six Rapid Response Taskforce, Dr. Veersammy Ramayya, has resigned citing several reasons for his decision. Well known regionally as a community activist, Dr. Ramayya said that he feels disrespected, and that his relationship with the regional administration, has helped to solidify his decision to tender a resignation letter to the Head of State and the Vice President respectively.

Dr. Veersammy Ramayya

“I did tender my resignation but, unfortunately, I am waiting on the President to call to make it official,” Ramayya said during a telephone conversation. He added, “I was really insulted, and I took it as an offence by the minister,” he further said.
According to Ramayya, one of his responsibilities on the taskforce is to conduct investigations, compile a report, and send it to the Head of State; however, that report is not shared with the regional body, he added, and that this appears to be an issue with regional officials.
“What they are saying [of] my portfolio is, I should have discussed it at the regional level before I go to the President, but I work with the President, and I feel that some of the issues are not exposed, and I feel that exposing the problem is going to be better for the government, so that the problems can be fixed and corrected, that is how I see it,” Ramayya noted.
Ramayya said that one of the issues he raised with the President was the problems that surrounded the distribution of the flood relief money to farmers.
“The biggest corruption taking place right now is the flood money distribution,” he said.
He disclosed that the President was informed that the monies were not “equitably distributed and that was my concern…and if I see wrong things, I am going to talk about it, and this is how a government should operate…” He added that he was attacked for raising an issue that occurred at the Tagore Memorial Secondary School, where he stated that a guard hut was built there under the previous administration, but the current administration decided to build another one. He said he sent a letter to the President and “the President called the regional people them to find out what is going on, that has become an issue as well.”
Ramayya stressed that a government has to be transparent, and if he is given the role to be on the ground to deal with such “then I can tell you a thousand things more than the people in the office; is the people on the ground who exercised their franchise to vote for you.” He believes that what he has done so far leading the Rapid Response Taskforce, has not dissatisfied the President and the Vice President, since they have not indicated such to him since his appointment.
The community activist, who had a weekly television program about issues in the Region, which has now gravitated to a Facebook live program, also pointed out that while he is receiving a salary for his position, but allowances that were agreed upon to accompany the salary have not been paid to him for the past seven months. He said when he brought this to the minister’s attention; he was told that it was a regional problem.
Ramayya’s resignation takes effect from October 1, 2021. The activist, who was appointed as the Regional Executive Officer for Region Six under the APNU+AFC had also resigned then.

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