Tardy parish councils

St Ann's Bay mayor rejects claim that councils cause water to not be trucked to some areas

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

SOME OF country's parish councils are being accused of gross negligence which has contributed to several districts across the island being without water.

Portfolio minister Robert Pickersgill said in Parliament last week that due to the delinquent actions of the councils, it has been difficult to secure additional resources from the Ministry of Finance to pay for the trucking of water to several communities in the island.

"When the minister of finance looks at it and see this amount, we can't get any additional money," said Pickersgill.

At present, parish councils requests money for water from central government, which allocates a certain amount for the trucking of water to each constituency in the parish. The councils are required to send certified and stamped invoices to the water ministry, which in turn releases money to the National Water Commission (NWC) for the trucking of water.

Pickersgill said, for example, St Catherine has $2.9 million available for the trucking of water, Manchester $1.7, and $3.3 million to St Ann.

"The money is there ... something is radically wrong," Pickersgill said, while lamenting that people are clamouring for water yet they are not being provided with the resource due to inaction by the parish council.

Marisa Dalrymple Phillibert, member of parliament for South Trelawny, said the parish councils appear to be failing in their responsibility to turn over invoices on time to allow for the trucking of water.

UNACCOUNTED BILLS

"I now am of the firm opinion that the parish councils are not operating the way they should because it is obvious that money is there, and for some reason, you are sending in bills and you are not getting them honoured, and the minister is saying that money is there," charged Dalrymple.

"You just imagine how it is where people are living in homes with children, and for weeks you don't get a drop of water. There is money allotted for it and the parish councils are not doing what they ought to do to get the payments made," added Dalrymple.

But chairman of the St Ann Parish Council, Desmond Gilmore, said it was unfair to be blaming his council.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that the documentation's required by the ministry as proof that water was delivered to communities are sometimes difficult to produce. He said that in some instances the trucker of the water has to demonstrate that his vehicle is licensed, registered and insured to operate on the roads.

"The system has to be transparent, some of the things that are necessary," Gilmore said.

The mayor noted that in the case of his council, a bauxite company had given them access to water from its wells, which is certified by the National Water Commission.

He said in order to maximise the benefit from the money available for the trucking of water, the council decided to take some water free of charge from Noranda Bauxite instead of buying it from the NWC, which provides a receipt for each load sold to it.

"Nobody wanted to accept the invoice because they say we should go and buy it from the NWC," Gilmore said.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that steps are taken to ensure probity in the delivery of water, noting that someone is designated in the community to verify that the water has been received.

Gilmore, however, said that based on the bureaucracy involved in the delivery of water, truckers are now reluctant to provide the service to the council.

"It takes an inordinately long time for them to be paid because of the system which the Ministry of Water has put in place," he said.

Tardy parish councils