Again, fire them, don't hire them

It wasn't the first time that I had made a complaint to the Province Wellesley Municipal Council (MPSP) about the uncleared drains along the road where I'm staying and I very much doubt whether it will be the last time either.

In the not-so-distant past - actually, 22 days ago - I noticed a worker from MPSP, a REAL worker under the direct employment of MPSP, had come round to Lorong Jernih 4 in Bukit Mertajam to remove dried leaves clogging the drains that ran along the front of our houses. The MPSP had responded to my complaints through the #betterpenang application on my iPad. The worker said that he was just a back-up since the MPSP contracted company was not doing anything.

Three weeks passed. I saw the dry leaves building up in the drains again. Still water. Perfect condition for mosquitoes to breed. Dengue fever all around us, remember? Where were the MPSP contractors? Weren't they supposed to have been contracted to sweep the roads and clear the drains of rubbish? Where were they when you wanted them?

Then two days ago on 26 Feb 2014 as I was driving through, I saw these two fellas removing rubbish from a drain along Tingkat Muhibbah 7. Now, Tingkat Muhibbah 7 was just round the corner from Lorong Jernih 4. I was heartened. The contracted workers were here. They'd clear all the drains of rubbish, especially the dried leaves.

But I should have known better. When I came back a few hours later, a glance at the drain showed me that they had not come round to my road at all. I must also add that this was NOT the first time that these contracted workers have given us a miss. In fact, it made me think whether this was done on purpose since nobody was reporting on them and none of the residents, in their opinion, probably cared. But I do care. I pay my council assessment every year and I expect that whoever is supposed to do this job will do his job properly.

So yesterday, I sent another complaint to MPSP through the #betterpenang app, attaching a picture of the drain in front of my house.

This morning past nine o'clock, I heard some slight noises along the road. Two MPSP workers, not workers from the MPSP contracted company, were busily clearing the rubbish from the drains. Oh, they told me, they were here because the contract workers have not been doing their job. Same old, same old. Same old story. I could have said: told you so.

So what is the MPSP going to do in the long term? Have their own staff go round the mainland to clear up on a job which has not been done well or at all by the company that was contracted to do it in the first place? Wouldn't that be self-defeating?

If I were the MPSP president, I would have oiled the big wheels of action already. Heads must roll and I wish to repeat my assertion that the contracted company must be fired from this job. If a small task like this is beyond the company's control, they do not deserve to be on the MPSP's payroll any longer.