What is Royston King’s sin?

Dear Editor,
IN the Monday, September 17, 2018, Stabroek News there is a front page caption: “inquiry ordered into City Hall – Town Clerk to be sent on leave” The caption is repeated at page 3 and a very lengthy article followed, which ends on page 9. This is, of course, a matter of public interest, and the public has a right to be informed.

But reading the Stabroek News article, the view is irresistible that this was no fair reporting for public information alone. In my considered opinion, this was opening statements by a prosecuting press as in a media trial with an insidious motive – crucify, prejudice and prejudge Mr. Royston King, the town clerk. A report of this type can easily engender prejudice and hostility in the minds of potential persons who by public notice in the press have been invited to make submissions to the “Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown Commission of Inquiry” (CoI). The LGC should condemn this mischievous type of prejudicial press publicity (pre-CoI); this media/lynching. This CoI appears to be in flagrant breach of Schedule 8 of the Municipal And District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01 and has been foisted on the council, an elected body.

Editor, this media crucifixion of the town clerk on the basis of the evidence of witnesses “Mark Roopan” and “MODI Sankar” reminds us (with biblical disposition and dispensation) of the Christ story. It is told in the Book of St. Matthew (KJV) Chapter 27, versus 12:27. I extract a few of those biblical writings; “and when he was accused of the Chief Priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him “Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee.” And he answered him to never a word. Pilate said unto them whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him saying Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Pilate saith unto them, what I shall do then with Jesus which is called Christ. They all say unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying let him be crucified.” I am no Pontius Pilate, Royston King is no Christ, but I ask the “ Mark Roopan”, and Modi Sankar of this capital city: what evil has Royston King done? Did the Stabroek Market wharf only begin to deteriorate and reach its present state of deterioration and collapse only after Mr. King became Town Clerk in 2015? I ask the same question in respect of City Hall. Is the council’s finance deficiencies attributable to Mr. King’s tenure as town clerk in three years? Is Royston King responsible for the dysfunctionalities of all the previous town clerks that preceded him (most infamously Carol Sooba)? Has Mr. King built or acquired any Pradoville-type mansion or unjustly enriched himself or family with City Council’s revenues in his three years as town clerk? And what is the complaint of the business community? Being asked to pay their fair share of the expenses for the repair and maintenance of the council’s roads necessitated by their excessive use with their heavy-tonnage, 18-wheelers and such like? It is an international local government best practice for councils to charge user fees.

Is he solely responsible for the non-payment/non-remittance to “GRA, NIS, GPL, GTT and the credit unions” (extracted from the Stabroek News article)? Has not the council with the perennial revenue deficit to make a hard choice between making those statutory payments (and others) and the humanity of paying workers’ salaries, so that they can put food in their children’s mouths; send them to school and pay the garbage contractors for their garbage-collection services, thereby averting an epidemic in the city.

Our memories are not so short that we cannot remember what perennial garbage no-collection crisis existed in this capital city prior to Mr. King becoming town clerk in 2015. And do they not know that councils in both developing and developed countries worldwide have programmes of housing for its workers? Must an APNU+AFC majority council persist in the social development serility of past governments and ignore the housing plight of its workers? And what about all those efforts at beautifying the city that Mr. King has initiated and seen to conclusion (colloquially speaking seemingly mashing some toes in the process of those transformative achievements)? Again, I ask: what evil has he done? Is he the target of the CoI, hence his being sent of administrative leave, to facilitate the process? What is the reasonable insinuation? So, let us pause and reflect on this: in this city we are a people who thrive on sensationalism, who have a special insatiable penchant for character assassination and ill-speaking. So, newspaper report (with its facility for elaborate reporting, which obviously television and radio do not have) that the town clerk has been sent on leave has a prime news element. Among the citizenry some are curious, some concerned; some of course get pleasure.

The CoI notice in the press does not indicate any terms of reference (TOR). Why is the ToR secreted in e-mail?

So, spare a thought for the hapless town clerk who, it seems, is now visited with the sins of all the previous town clerks and councils, over the past 25 years; and the collateral embarrassment for himself and his family. That cannot be right. But there is one reassuring and comforting fact: perhaps by Divine intervention, the Local Government Commission has chosen as the CoI head a person of conscience, much learning, and even-handedness, former chancellor Cecil Kennard.

I end with this: Royston King’s sin (and “He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her” St. John 8:07) is that he is a visionary with a vision of a Rolls Royce city as our capital; impatient in this relentless pursuit, with outdated administrative methodologies where they appear unworkable and inconvenient; frustrated in his endeavours by those with a donkey cart mindset.

Regards
Maxwell .E. Edwards

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