Contract controversy engulfs council
CITY mayor Alfrence Fatai and his council chairmen are accused of engaging their wantoks and relatives to do contracted jobs for the council.
“They have virtually taken over the role of the council’s Works Division,” a city council source told the Solomon Star.
“Since they came in, they cancelled existing contractors and appointed their wantoks and relatives to do renovation work within their offices,” the source added.
“Mayor Fatai also engaged his relatives to do renovation at the official mayor’s residence,” he said.
A senior Works officer, who asked not to be named, confirmed the revelations.
“….yes, the mayor and his council chairmen have taken over our role,” the officer said, speaking on condition his name is not revealed.
“This is a very big and serious issue.
“Renovation of the mayor’s official residence is our responsibility.
“Mayor Fatai refused to listen to us and instead get his own relatives to do the work.
“We don’t know how much the council is paying the relatives and wantoks of the councillors because we have not done any assessments.
“We are the ones who should be doing the valuation of these works but the councillors have shut us out completely. They are in control of the whole council.
“The government ministry responsible should investigate the current leadership because they are now treating the office as their personal business,” the office said.
When contacted, mayor Fatai confirmed the allegation but defended their actions.
“We are doing this because some of the contractors engaged or recommended to us to engage are owned by officers within the Works Division,” Mr Fatai claimed.
“Some of the officers registered their own companies and then awarded themselves the contracts to either do renovation of council properties or other jobs,” the mayor said.
“When I came in, we found out this practice and decided to cancel the contracts.
“We’ve also sacked one of the Works officers after we got evidence that he was actively doing this.
“So yes, some of the council chairmen, including myself, have picked up contractors we know to do renovations in our offices and for my case, the mayor’s official residence.
“I picked up relatives to do renovation at the official residence because I have valuables in there, which I wanted them to also look after while doing the renovation,” Mr Fatai said.
He said his executive had decided not to allow the council’s Works Division to award contracts because of the corrupt dealings that have been uncovered there.
Instead, the mayor said the awarding of contracts will now be done by a council tender board and that contracts will be to be publicly tendered out.
Mr Fatai said he will not allow corruption to permeate the council’s processes and systems.
Comments are being sought from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible for the administration and affairs of the council.
By DENVER NEWTER
