… as Pluck sits as Acting Town Clerk
SLAMMING Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green for encouraging councillors to disobey a court order that was served on Acting Town Clerk Yonnette Pluck, Councillors Ranwell Jordan and Gwendoline Mc Gowan-French, who moved the motion in the Supreme Court, joined several other councillors in walking out of the fortnightly statutory meeting yesterday. Justice Diana Insanally, on Friday last, granted an Order Nisi calling on Pluck to show cause why her decision to act as town clerk should not be prohibited.
Following “gross disorder,” where councillors shouted at each other across the room and engaged in heated arguments , Mayor Green adjourned the meeting to next Monday after citing the fact that the setting was not a “fish market.”
Mayor Green reported that his knowledge of the court order over the weekend prompted him to seek legal advice, which subsequently informed him that the situation with regard to Pluck should remain the same until the matter is determined by the highest forum.
However, Councillor Jordan informed that legal advice from Mr. Nigel Hughes, of Hughes, Fields and Stoby, indicates that Pluck is prohibited from discharging the duties and functions as town clerk until the court has heard and determined the application on May 16 in the Bail Court.
The Mayor was accused by Councillor Patricia Chase-Green of encouraging the council to disobey an order that was granted by the court. She inquired of Green: “What are you encouraging a senior officer of this council to do? To disobey an order of the court? How could you sit here and advise us to encourage a senior officer to disobey an injunction that was brought against somebody?”
Mayor Green however stated that this matter has very serious, legal and administrative implications and hence his reason for seeking legal advice on the “tricky issue” at hand.
“I am compelled to accept (the legal advice). We need to urge the minister to bring a closure to this matter as quickly as possible,” he stated.
Councillor Jordan made known his “dissatisfaction and disappointment” with Mayor Green and noted that lawyers can only advise but it is the order of the court that really matters.
Councillors were seeking to have Public Relations Officer Royston King carry out the functions of town clerk at the statutory meeting yesterday, but Ms Pluck remained in that capacity until the end of the meeting.
Meanwhile, Ms Pluck told this newspaper on Sunday that the order in no way prevents her from carrying out the duties of town clerk. Instead, she said a determination will be made by May 16.
Less than two weeks ago, Personnel Officer at the M&CC, Ms Paulette Braithwaite, rescinded a letter she sent to King that sought to confirm his appointment as town clerk by City Councillors.
Pluck had said that the personnel officer probably had second thoughts on the matter and recognised that someone else should have sent the letter.
Meanwhile, permanent secretary within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Nigel Dharamlall, has said that from the level of the ministry and government, only Pluck is recognized as the town clerk. “King is trying to usurp the functions of the town clerk…that is illegitimate,” he remarked.
According to him, the appointment of a new panel to pick the town clerk is still in progress, though the various bodies to serve on it have already been nominated by the minister.
The panel will reportedly consist of a representative of the Georgetown Municipality, one from the Local Government Ministry, one from the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), one from the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) and one from the Prime Minister’s office.
Dharamlall said Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green has indicated his concurrence with the decision of Minister Kellawan Lall not to grant the request by City Hall.
The permanent secretary said being town clerk is a figment of King’s imagination and that it is really a charade that he is putting on.
Commenting on the decision of city councillors to appoint King, Dharamlall said the council’s recommendation to have King installed has not been approved. “The process was flawed and inconsistent,” he said.
The appointment of King was the subject of a heated debate among councillors at their last statutory meeting in February, and Mayor Green had suggested that there be an inquiry into the character of the applicants, but this was never done. As such, the Mayor had reported that he was not surprised at the position taken by Minister Lall.
The posts of town clerk and city treasurer were advertised both internally and externally, with several persons applying for the former and one for the latter. The four applicants who were interviewed for the town clerk’s post were King, Mr. John Bishop, Mr. Ron Eastman and Ms. Carol Sooba.
The lone applicant for the post of city treasurer  declined to attend a scheduled interview and Mr. Andrew Meredith will remain functioning in that capacity.
Minister Lall said the motion passed by the City Council to have King installed with immediate effect was null and void.
At a press conference he held to address the issue, Lall stated: “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…I cannot understand why this motion was allowed. It cannot stand scrutiny.”