As private and public sector agencies come together to assist flood-ravaged residents of Beetham Gardens, in Port-of-Spain one of the main organisers of distributing the relief efforts says he was told to return the goods.
“Just after we collected some other items from one of the sponsors, we got a call asking if we distributed the goods already. I asked why. They wanted to know if I could bring it back. I asked why and the person indicated from the ministry said the representative told them to bring it back,” Kareem Marcelle told Guardian Media yesterday.
The relief supplies came with the help of Government ministers Dr Lovell Francis, Paula Gopee-Scoon, and members of the private sector, including ANSA McAL, parent company of Guardian Media.
The relief volunteers refused to return the goods saying people lost everything and continued the distribution, he says, with the focus on the elderly, young and infirmed.
“Even if the items would have gone back, we’d have to wait for some grand exercise, some grand press conference, when people need it now. We need to go in and clean up now. The rains are coming now,” he said.
He and other activists took to Facebook to vent.
Marcelle said he was contacted by Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds.
“Fortunately MP Hinds did contact me and cleared up the matter, explaining that it was not any sort of vengeance or victimisation but more so that he wanted to be part of the process,” he said.
The activist claims after the dousing of floodwater on Hinds on Tuesday by some residents, help has been hard to come by, saying “No one from the ODPM has come because they are being told they cannot come into the community without the councillor and the MP. They have been holding that sort of tight leash on the amenities when the real victims continue to suffer,” Marcelle said.
