Good advice from ministers, but…

THE EDITOR: Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan and Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi gave two sound bites of advice to the thousands of citizens suffering from flooding, collapsed drains and fractured roads and landslides.

At their press conference on Saturday, Minister Sinanan advised troubled citizens not to wait until the problems in their districts get worse, but to inform the relevant authorities, especially the regional corporations, in a timely manner. Minister Al-Wari advised citizens to quickly contact the regional corporations for help before things get worse.

Further, in answering a question in Parliament, Sinanan advised citizens to “talk to your local government representative” to fix clogged and broken drains in their district. But what happens if the local representative or corporation does not give a helpful response to the problems?

So many letters to government agencies, newspaper editorials and protests without effective responses do not reflect well on the Government. What should a citizen frustrated with repeated complaints do if there is no positive response from the authorities to fix the repeated complaints? Today, these two ministers face a monumental task because of the many problems left unattended for many years.

Agricultural consultant Riyadh Mohammed noted that there was no proper drainage to handle the flooding. In addition to the corporations’ legal duty to mainatain and fix drains, there is a drainage division in the Ministry of Works. Why then are drains left broken for so many years?

A clear example is the collapsed drain in Champs Fleurs. After more than 12 years of repeated complaints, the drain got worse, causing landslides and serious damage to residents’ homes.

In addition to the “good advice” from Sinanan and Al-Rawi, my helpful advice is for these two besieged ministers to do a citizen-pleasing audit of the number of unresolved complaints by citizens and urge the regional corporations, in the first instance, to take the outstanding required action. This will put some healthy, accountable action into their good advice.

It is time, as several editorials advised, for the Government to review this troubling matter of long-standing, unresolved complaints. The two ministers can dutifully count the number of landslides and broken drains, but it is also high time to require accountability.

Giving the regional corporations new laws to “collect more money” will not solve the fundamental problem of citizens’ complaints. What is the system, the law, that compels the corporations to do the required repairs without being “politically partisan” in their resource distribution – “fixing” some places but not others with similar problems?

This is a serious gap in the local government reform effort. Such preferential treatment has helped citizens become more desperate and angry. While the regional corporation is a political institution, when it comes to fixing citizens’ broken drains, landslides and roads, there should be no “politics.”

In his interview with Fazeer Mohammed last week, Sinanan dutifully noted that the superficial practice of hurriedly paving roads, fixing drains, etc “just before elections” has also aggravated the problems. And, of course, bringing subsequent, additional problems to the two ministries.

These two minsters warned citizens to “prepare for the worst,” but at the same time they should now take all required action to ensure that the relevant agencies, especially the front line regional corporations do all in their power to prevent further disasters like what the country now faces. The ministers gave good advice, but…

RAMESH DEOSARAN

professor emeritus

former Independent senator

and chairman, Parliamentary

Joint Select Committee to

Inquire and Report on

Service Commissions and

Regional Corporations