–on parking meter re-negotiating team, even with TOR in hand

ALTHOUGH a draft copy of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the new team re-negotiating the parking meter contract with Smart City Solutions (SCS) has become available, a decision was taken to have the matter deferred again because no one has come forward to suggest any names of members of the public.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green called on councillors at Monday’s statutory meeting to propose the names of the two individuals to sit on the committee by October 9, failing which the Council will go ahead to decide if the committee will no longer feature members of the public.

Meanwhile, she reminded the meeting that councillors are free to nominate any member of the public.  People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillor Bishram Kuppen noted yesterday that the section of the law which King quoted from as giving him and the Treasurer the authority to sit on the committee was wrong.  But the Mayor responded that although the section quoted was wrong, the two officers sitting on the committee were in keeping with their roles and functions at the municipality.    Kuppen had been the only one who objected to the town clerk serving on the new committee, citing the sensitive nature of the issue. “The town clerk should not be part of the negotiating committee, even sitting as an advisor,” Kuppen said.

“The initial problems that came from the contract came from the actions he took, in that the contract was never tendered; the transparency and impact studies were not done; and I think that he should have rightfully recused himself because he was not part of the previous negotiating committee,” he’d told the Guyana Chronicle.     He further opined that it is highly prejudicial that King will be part of a committee, where he would be able to influence its discussion or the direction that it takes. At a special meeting recently, 13 of 25 City Councillors voted in favour of setting up a new committee to start a fresh process of negotiation with SCS, the foreign company that was granted a concession to install parking meters in Georgetown.

The contract that the M&CC entered into with SCS came under heavy criticism from some City Councillors, who called for a complete revocation of it, while some others suggested waiting on the outcome of a court case that has a bearing on the matter.

The majority, nevertheless, voted in favour of renegotiating with SCS under some new rules. For instance, SCS will now be obligated to provide required documents before any negotiations can take place. Member of the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM), Don Singh had told this publication that the M&CC is going ahead with re-negotiating an illegal contract. “Now I don’t know how that works,” he’d said, adding:“We at MAPM are 100 per cent sure that the court case will justify our position that monopoly laws were broken; procurement laws were broken, and the general contract is illegal. So they will be faced with further problems down the road by taking this action.” Another member, Luana Falconer, said that it was shocking to see that it did not matter to 13 councillors that the contract with SCS is illegal. “Where in the world is negotiating an illegal contract okay?” she said.