Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has warned contractors against “skimming off” of government’s monies. The Minister went on to further urge them to do quality work and finish on time, especially those who are contracted to her Ministry.
She was speaking at the commissioning of the new wing of the Fort Wellington Secondary School in Region Five recently.
“The government has the greatest intention and we match that intention with political will and we match that will with financial investment,” she stated.
Manickchand went on to say that some contractors come along and don’t believe that they have the duty to “be a good citizen and finish the buildings on time and it inconveniences everybody.”
At the end of the day, she noted, the buck has to stop somewhere and the government and MoE are called to account for the actions.
“Presently, we are building and expanding and making sure that children are comfortable. We call on all contractors to do that which you sign on to do…so make sure you finish these buildings on time and make sure you do it to the kind of quality that you’d like to have your own children enjoy, and make sure you don’t skim off government’s money and try to make as much as you can on the contracts, so you give us poor materials and poor work.”
The Minister stated that the MoE has completed a lot of rehabilitation and repair works to various schools across the country over the past August holidays.
“I don’t believe all contractors are wicked…we did an enormous amount of work over the school holidays…we repaired and renovated or built a large number of schools.”
She reiterated that bad contractors will have their contracts terminated from the education bracket and persons that can deliver quality works will be given the contracts.
Source: (Leon Suseran) https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/11/04/dont-skim-off-of-governments-monies/