I wonder if that excellent investigation by the Integrity Commission which unearthed the alleged corruption at KSACMC and the top executive at NWC, will cause the Holness administration and its minions to stop harassing/maligning that institution and allow it to do its work in peace!
Or if the spotlight now turned on the corruption at
the Building Department of the double-dealing KSACMC will be just a talking point or will something be finally done about that institution that has
caused nothing but grief for many struggling homeowners in the corporate area?
Me, hold my breath?
No way.
I am of course referring to the Integrity Commission’s
exposure which caused NWC top boss Mark Barnett to be sent on leave by the NWC
and now face prosecution.
The 'delinquency' of the Building Department
is not new. And it has cost the Municipality, homeowners, and taxpayers, dearly
over the decades.
Right now, the spotlight on that department has to do
with new developments in upscale areas but the headaches the department caused over the years, have long been visible in places like Richmond
Park, Eastwood Park, and Bedford Park.
I resided in Bedford Park for decades, and their refusal to prosecute businesses that operate there illegally caused nothing but frustration for us forever, despite the fact that the breaches were reported ad nauseam.
Not to mention the unnecessary cost to taxpayers in
general. For, the commercialization of residential areas causes the rapid
deterioration of the roads which were never built to the standard necessary
to withstand commercial activity. So, on the rare occasions when the
authorities repair these roads, it’s the general
public that has to foot the bill.
Why? Because “Money
talk and bull#&@%** walk!”
That is what the first operator to breach our covenant
told residents when he turned his home into a heavy-duty commercial operation
and a delegation approached him. And yes, the KSACMC refused to do
anything about it, so more and more illegal operators followed suit
until the road became almost undrivable. The entire area deteriorated and life
became miserable for homeowners despite regular reports to the so-called
regulators, the KSACMC.
“Money talk and bull#&@%*...walk.”
As a victim of that corrupt municipality, I know them
well. Yup, and there have been many successive administrations at that sewer pit.
I couldn’t believe it when I recently heard an
apologist saying the problem at KSAMC was that they didn’t have the funds to employ
enough building inspectors!
Do you know what the penalty for operating businesses in
residential areas is? If my memory serves me correctly, it is in the range of $25,000
per day once the infractions continue. And they were always reported and totally
visible!
But while the violations
continued for all to see, the KSACMC happily gave up that revenue because individuals at the monitoring and enforcing institution were
being paid millions not to enforce the laws. So, as the neighborhoods became
run down, people who had worked long and hard to own a home had to move out
of sheer exasperation.
The unprosecuted violations over the decades elicited
an occasional report in instigative journals, but successive administrations
would do nothing about the disgraceful and outright corruption at that municipality,
so one can only assume they are all complicit!
Now it continues, not only with the commercialization
of residential areas but also with rampant building violations in apartment
development in areas with large lots.
That’s what the much-maligned Integrity
Commission has brought to the fore by the exposing of the NWC boss and “delinquency”
at the Municipality.
Will the exposure lead to any cleansing of the stables at KSACMC?
I doubt it, for we are notorious for our love of nine-day wonders followed by a
“bagga mout,” but no action is usually taken.
Many decades ago, it was reported that the late Sir Alexander
Bustamante had once disbanded the KSAC because of the entrenched
corruption there. After my experience with that institution, as far as I am concerned,
the time has long passed for another cleansing there.
If the latest Integrity Commission's Report leads to
that action, they will be more than well worth their existence, despite the
determination by senior politicians to destroy them.
