#BTSpeakingOut – Double amputee needs urgent help

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by E. Jerome Davis

Residents of St. Philip are hopping mad at the length of time it is taking the Rural Development Department to complete a house it is building in Bayfield, St. Philip for a double amputee.

The two-bedroom, wood house (with wall toilet and bath) was started in August 2021 and was supposed to be completed in sixteen weeks (four months). However, it is now a year, the house has not been completed and work has come to a halt once again.

The house is an “open sepulchre” with only one of the three doors in place. The plumbing has not been done, the well/septic tank is not in place, the electrical wiring has not been done, the bathroom has not been tiled, the interior of the house is in a mess, the back step has not been constructed, and vines have started to take over the structure.

Officials at the Rural Development Department are blaming the contractor, and the contractor is blaming the Department.

In the meantime, this stressful situation has taken a toll on the double amputee who has had to seek shelter at a friend for close to a year, and now at a relative.

Although grateful for the assistance of the Rural Development Department which falls under Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, the poor double amputee is at wits end as a result of  the constant turning around received from the officials at Rural, and the contractor.

E. Jerome Davis, concerned resident.