…at extraordinary meeting in City Hall compound

THE Mayor and Councillors of Georgetown have once again moved to have Public Relations Officer (PRO) Royston King illegally appointed as Town Clerk.Yesterday they removed Carol Sooba from that position, but not by means in keeping with the provisions of the Municipal and District Councils Act Ch28:01.
The motion of removal, moved by City Councillor Hector Stoute, was approved unanimously by the quorum of Councillors, with a subsequent additional motion moved by Councillor Ranwell Jordan, which was also

approved unanimously, proposing that King be appointed as Town Clerk, with immediate effect.
The motion was introduced during an extraordinary meeting of the Town Council, yesterday, convened in the presence of Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, along with a quorum of Councillors, and in the City Hall compound.
King is no stranger to the media, after the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker, had alleged that the PRO had fraudulently misrepresented the capacity of Town Clerk by signing tax waivers to the sum of some $36M to the Beacon Foundation, prompting the Minister to call on the Guyana Police Force and the Office of the Auditor General to investigate these waivers. This matter is still before the investigative entities.
In keeping with Article 118(1) of the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01, which reads to the effect that the power to appoint persons to hold or act in any local government office and the power to remove any such local government officer from office shall be vested in the Local Government Commission; the Act further provides in Article 119(1) that any such decision taken by the Commission must be approved by the powers duly vested in the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development.

In the absence of the Local Government Commission, which is to be constituted by the Prime Minister, the powers of the Commission are conferred to the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development.

Councillor Fraser, however, was adamant that “[the] minister has no authority, power or jurisdiction over [the] council”, further adding that, “We decided we will have Mr. King assume position until [the] Commission is set up.”

Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green closed the session with the affirmation, “We shall indicate to the appropriate authorities this decision taken”,

The dispute over the Town Clerk’s appointment has spanned over the tenure of three successive Local Government Ministers, Kellawan Lall, Ganga Persaud and Norman Whittaker. Once again the Council has found itself in a dilemma by seeking to override the powers of the Local Government Minister in keeping with the constitutionally provided selection process of appointing local government officers in the absence of a Local Government Commission.

This advance by the City officials was initially brought to the table in March, 2011 by Councillor Jordan, prompting a rejection by then Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall, who was appalled at the selection process of moving to appoint King as Town Clerk with immediate effect.
The then minister had made clear his position that “the motion collides with the Municipal and District Councils Act. You cannot appoint someone with immediate effect when, in fact, you have to make a recommendation to the minister”. Lall further added that he “cannot understand why this motion was allowed. It cannot stand scrutiny”.

(By Derwayne Wills)