Councillor who secured 5 Million weeding contract, now heads works Committee

As the ninth RDC Region Ten Council rolls out several projects and plans for the residents of
Region Ten, and the recent appointment of Dwight John as REO, several damning revelations
are coming to the fore. According to documents seen by this media house,
www.aroundtheregions.com Eleze Benjamin-Hall, who was recently elected to the Council and
currently serves as the Regional Labour Officer, was elected as the Head of the Public Works
Committee. She secured five million dollars in weeding contract earlier this year prior to being
elected unto the Council.
The contract had formed part of the Millie’s Hideout project and while several contracts are paid
via cheques, documents and evidence secured by this media house, shows that the contracts
were issued in two parts. Benjamin-Hall first secured 2.5 million and subsequently another 2.5
million which was managed by both she and her sister, Esther Benjamin
However, what is alarming is that evidence secured shows that several persons who worked on
the contract were paid meagre sums of monies. Additionally, she paid her sister on at last two
occasions the sum of $400,000.00 as a Supervisor/Coordinator. “This is completely ridiculous, as
the people who actually did the work got some really small sums, but her sister who got paid as a
supervisor/coordinator, received more than once the sum of 400,000.00,” a senior regional
source said.
Additionally, a prominent resident who is closely associated to the APNU party added, “This is
the level of corruption that politicians have sought to control residents in the region.”
Benjamin-Hall on numerous occasions had vehemently denied the issue, stating that she never
secured any contracts and challenged anyone to produce such records. However, a source close
to this media house produced evidence of Benjamin-Hall and her sister benefiting directly from
the contract. While our evidence shows that the monies were paid over by the Principal Assistant
Secretary (PAS) Finance, Dolette Powers at the time, some claimed that the contract may have
been issued by the former REO, Orrin Gordon with support from former Regional Chairman,
Rennis Morian.
Benjamin-Hall have been heavily criticized in the past for the standard and quality of her work as
the Regional Labour Officer. She is expected soon to account for her performance as the
Regional Labour Office. However, the ministry is seeking to increase the labour staff in the
region. She is expected to detail how and what amount of work was done for the five million as
auditors comb through this and other projects. Further, several persons said that it is not the first
time that she has benefited in a significant way from the region.
Additionally, Benjamin-Hall who was handpicked as the Secretary of the RHEC committee by
the former Regional Chairman Rennis Morian, was also handed two additional contracts as a
result of the COVID pandemic. She and her sister were once again given a contract to make 60
bed sheets, while Benjamin-Hall had provided workers to clean the Linden Foundation
Secondary Quarantine Centre. Several regional administration staff had raised queries on the
manner it was issued, with no public tendering. “It was like one day we all learnt that Eleze

(Benjamin-Hall) got the contract to make 60 bed sheets and if you check the price that it was
made at, you will be blown completely away,” a staff member disclosed.
Many persons who had worked on the weeding contract at Millie’s Hideout is expressing
disappointment over the manner and payment that several residents received for their services.
“This certainly isn’t right as you have a woman who because of her close association to the
former Regional Chairman and evidently to the then REO, secured five million dollars between
she and her sister for weeding. Nevertheless, the question has to be asked as what systems were
used in approving it. Somebody has to be made to answer for this, as it is certainly
skullduggery,” another source lamented.
Many are of the view that the reason why the contract was facilitated and paid out by the PAS
Finance, Dollette Powers, is because like Benjamin-Hall, her husband had benefitted
significantly from similar Millie’s Hideout contracts.
www.aroundtheregions.com will follow this story closely.