There can be no doubt that the deterioration of a building to the extent that it can be considered unsafe and unhealthy takes a reasonable length of time, possibly years, and certainly not days, weeks or even months. Among the faults listed at the immigration office is that "the entire staircase was too narrow." If it "was", has it been fixed, and therefore, why is it being listed now? If it "is", then a structural alteration would be required and as such the entire building must be vacated to have this fault remedied.
Next, it is listed that storage boxes have been placed under desks, restricting leg room of the staff. Who put the boxes there and with whose authority? Has staff placed these boxes there deliberately to incur faults or is there a fifth column working with the sole purpose of undermining the various departments.Inadequate ventilation. What is adequate in an air-conditioned office?
Insufficient water storage. What is sufficient and to cover how many people? Why is the building not connected to the mains thus requiring limited water storage in event of an emergency? The questions keep piling up.
While much is being touted about the need for staff to operate in safe and healthy conditions nothing is being said about the people who visit these offices. It is evident that these so-called faults have been in existence for years and my question to all and sundry is–how come they are only now being raised?
Over this same period the responsible people who are now huffing and puffing have made no statement to this effect even though their silence may have contributed, if they are to be believed, to the ill-health of many people in the country.
There is an old adage: you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Think about it.
Dallas Kidman
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