– Whittaker advises

MAYOR Hamilton Green and members of the Georgetown City Council must accept responsibility for the flooding and the destruction it caused last week, says Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker.

The move to establish an Interim Management Committee is in the hands of Georgetown’s residents. Residents as well as representatives of the private sector can forward a petition to the Ministry of Local Government, which will then launch an inquiry and have the outcomes presented at a public meeting before it can act on the recommendations of the inquiry’s report – Whittaker.

Speaking at the ruling party’s weekly press briefing at Freedom House yesterday, Whittaker, who is also a PPP Central Committee Member, said: “The PPP and Georgetown residents must no longer fetch the burden of their incompetence, enough is enough.”
Asked why the Government has not acted to address what Whittaker described as a “failed” City Council by establishing an Interim Management Committee (IMC), he said this move is in the hands of Georgetown’s residents.
According to him, residents as well as representatives of the private sector can forward a petition to the Ministry of Local Government, which will then launch an inquiry and have the outcomes presented at a public meeting before it can act on the recommendations of the inquiry’s report.

NEGLECT
Whittaker stressed that the inundation seen last week was largely a consequence of neglect.
“This (the flooding) is a consequence of the neglect of the City Council in ensuring timely servicing of its kokers and pumps, in ensuring timely cleaning of canals and drains, in ensuring timely collection and disposal of garbage in the city,” he said.
Whittaker added that he initiated a meeting six weeks ago with the Council, sector ministries and the private sector to address the areas of action that were needed to ensure preparedness ahead of the rainy season.
He said: “In spite of all efforts to get the Council to be proactive and initiate the works that were considered and agreed necessary, nothing was done…we had even made available staff to work along with the Council…we said we will support and assist you, you need to make a start.”
The minister stressed that the Mayor and Council members must accept responsibility for the flooding. He said: “The City of Georgetown is under the management of the Mayor and the City Council…this grouping shamelessly refuses to accept the responsibility for management of the city. They have wielded control over the city for the past 19 years. They have received billions of dollars in rates and taxes paid every year by the citizenry of the city of Georgetown, yet garbage is everywhere, yet the drains are blocked, yet the parapets are in an unkempt manner and flooding takes place whenever there is excess rain.”

GOV’T SUPPORT
Asked to comment on Mayor Green’s calls for certain types of taxes to be remitted to the City Council, rather than to the Central Government, Whittaker questioned the Council’s ability to account for additional funds, when it currently has trouble accounting for collections it is already making.
He explained that taxpayers pay their dues and the Council, more often than not, does little or nothing and when the Government supports the Council, it is taxpayers paying again to do what should have been done in the first place.
Whittaker stressed that the Central Government’s support cannot be doubted, as in the last seven years over $330m has been given to the City Council.
He said: “Central Government is forced to pump millions of dollars into City Council annually, to bail them out of their financial woes.”
Whittaker added that financial support is only one component of the support the City Council receives from Central Government, the others being equipment, vehicles and even staff when needed.
“The ineptitude among those managing the affairs of the city is evident and apparent for all to see,” he said.
On that note, Whittaker also addressed the clear divide between the decisions made by the Mayor and the actions of the Town Clerk. He explained that the Mayor’s instruction, as well as that of the Council’s, must be legitimate and legal.
The minister said: “The Town Clerk is aware and is expected to advise the Mayor and Council when instructions run contrary to regulation…if notwithstanding the advice, the Mayor insists, then the Town Clerk must insist her advice is reflected in the minutes and also is expected not to do illegalities.”

CORRUPTION
He added that it is clear that corruption is rampant at City Hall and there are auditing challenges with financial records related to the Japanese grant.
“The corruption became apparent when the Town Clerk took the brave step of dragging a few of them before the courts recently…one would have thought that the AFC, the APNU, Transparency International and people the likes of Anand Goolsarran and Lincoln Lewis, would have been forthright in their condemnation of these acts of impropriety on the part of the Mayor and Council,” he said.
Whittaker reiterated that the continued trend reflecting the shortcomings of the Mayor and the Council members must see them accepting responsibility for the consequences of last week’s flooding.

BLAME GAME WELCOMED
The ruling party’s General Secretary and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, then welcomed what he termed “the blame game” that is ongoing over the flooding.
He said: “Blame game is good. Everybody must have their say because people will be educated in the process.”
According to him, the position of the ruling party has been clear, the Mayor and the City Council have failed the city.
He questioned the abilities of the Mayor and the Council at a national level, if they are unable to effectively undertake the work of the city.
Rohee said: “The Government continues to be blamed…the fact, however, is that it is Mr. Hamilton Green and the Council who is in charge of the City. They must accept responsibility…I have seen this city shift from one extreme to the next.”
Last week’s flooding was the worst recorded in Georgetown since 1892.

(By Vanessa Narine)