And keeping it in the south, Maya Center village has concerns of its own. Last week, you saw the residents protesting the newly appointed chairman of the water board. They believed it was a conflict of interest because, not only is the new chairman the brother of the village chairman, but this shuffle occurred before the current water board's term was up.
And Minister Requena said that the appointment occurred after the usual process, which included consultations with the area rep and the village council.
However, he added that the water boards are properly trained, and that they must follow a process to use the funds, which should mitigate money mismanagement.
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation, Labor
"What I can say to you is that as a ministry we have a clear responsibility, our responsibility is to ensure that we appoint the water boards, that's by responsibility as the minister, in consultation with the area representative of whatever area, also in consultation with the village council. In the case of Maya Center, this process, we went through this process, we consulted the area rep, and the village council was engaged, they made their recommendations and we adhered to those recommendations."
Courtney Menzies:
"They're worried that the funds will be mismanaged, will there be any checks and balances in place?"
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation, Labor
"Absolutely. What I want to say also is that in addition to our responsibility to appoint water boards, we also have a responsibility to ensure that we train these water boards, we train these village councils and that we also have oversight in terms of the finances for water boards and that is what we do. Our rural development officers go in regularly every month into these communities and they certainly do check and balances to ensure that they are complying with the requirements as it relates to managing the funds of the water boards in a very prudent manner. With regards to the community, where the community requests the use of water board funds for a public purpose, let's say they want to carry out a project in the community, there's a clear procedure as to how that is done."
Reports are however that after a meeting with the area rep, Rodwell Ferguson, he has agreed to allow the water board to finish their term, which ends in 2024.
