GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee, last Monday remarked that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) was not being criticised without any justification. Speaking at the party’s weekly news conference at Freedom House in Georgetown, he said: “I don’t think we are attacking the City Council without any justification. If an institution fails to fulfil its mandate, it has to come under public scrutiny and criticism.
“In the same way, if a Government ministry fails, it would come under criticism and scrutiny from the media and Opposition, so I would say that all the criticisms that have been levelled against the City Council…I think are fully justified.”
Rohee said the municipality has become fully embroiled in politics. “The unmasking of the political actors behind what is unfolding at [the] City Council as well has obviously led to where we are today, because they would like to have full control of the resources of the City Council without any accountability whatsoever.”
Just recently, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, observed that while City Hall remains visibly divided, Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green would do the worst possible that could be done if things do not evolve according to his “script.”
Speaking at his post-Cabinet press briefing, he said about the mayor’s attitude: “In essence, if I don’t get my way, there will be no way.”
However, he noted that there are others who are working with the administration and with whom the objectives of the “Clean- up Georgetown” Campaign resonate. It is with those individuals with whom the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker, is working along.
Luncheon said the team supporting the campaign comes from the Solid Waste Department of City Hall and the City Engineer’s Division.
Recently, there has been much confusion at City Hall, especially since the appointment of Carol Sooba as acting Town Clerk by the Local Government Minister. While the minister insists on keeping her there, City Councillors and officials at the municipality have continued to bemoan what they call Sooba’s incompetence and unprofessionalism.