AT least two officials of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) have expressed disgust over the way the municipality is being run.
Speaking to the Chronicle on condition of anonymity, they disclosed that allegations have been made that certain officers are ‘running things’ at the council, and are being shielded by the mayor. Just recently, this newspaper sought to find out what is being done about the squatters lining the West Ruimveldt Front Road, because it has been observed over time that the street is extremely narrow, creating complications  whenever rain falls and the overflow of the adjacent canal reaches atop the road, narrowing it even further and creating inconvenience for pedestrians. To compound matters, West Front Road is a two-way street.
The official responded that this squatting issue is not likely to be resolved, as, during his days of serving the ‘Burnham Government’, Mayor Green was the one who had given permission for people to squat on the shoulder of West Ruimveldt Front Road.
“How can he now go and ask them to move?” the official pondered.
The mayor continues to “hamstring” the entire council, wielding his powers and protecting only certain officers, the source commented.

Meanwhile, this newspaper was informed by another reputable source that a recent review of the staff list of the City Treasurer’s Department revealed the existence of widespread and blatant acts of nepotism and cronyism within the Finance Department of the Council.
In the first instance, it has been discovered that Ms Shaundella George, daughter of City Councillor Gladstone George, was recently employed in the “sensitive” position of cashier within the Property Rates Collection Section of the Treasury Department.
“This is a clear conflict of interest (situation), with the employee’s father being not only a City Councillor but also a sitting member of the Municipality’s Finance Committee,” the source said.
This was of particular concern to the official, as it was highlighted that this very Property Rates Collection Section has been subjected to several acts of fraud by some of its staffers in the recent past.
It was also noted that at least two married couples, the McCalmons and the Orgistas, work within the department,sitting side by side, with similar responsibilities of managing the municipality’s accounting system, the source informed. This has been another clear breach of norms and standard operational procedures of a finance department.
This, according to the official, is another case of patent slackness on the part of the current Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee, Junior Garrett, who has failed to take remedial action to bring some semblance of orderliness and rectitude to the finance department that falls under the purview of the Finance Committee.
“Indeed, it was observed that this very unfavourable state of affairs exists in other departments, including the Mechanical Workshop, where the son of another City Councillor holds a senior position,” the source pointed out.
Meanwhile, following discovery of the City Treasurer’s Department’s purchase of a laptop computer from a bogus company at an exorbitant price, in complete breach of standard tender board procedures and outside of the specifications established by the Council, and subsequent to disappearance of financial records pertaining to the purchase of another laptop computer procured in equally irregular circumstances, another fraudulent activity has been unearthed at the City Treasurer’s Department, the source said.
“This time, is has been discovered that a cheque payable to someone engaged in business with the Georgetown Municipality, instead of being paid to that person, was rather diverted to the account of a clerk of the City Treasurer’s Department, unknowing to the payee, and with a signature affixed that was purportedly forged.
“Additionally, it has come to light that, well known to senior officers of the Treasurer’s Department, considerable quantities of Council cheques paid out to employees and persons with whom the municipality does business, rather than being tendered to and encashed at the commercial banks through which they were issued, have instead been cashed by this employee of the Treasurer’s Department, for months now, for a fee, then passed through the cashier system of the tax section — a grave violation of the municipality’s financial regulations,” the official continued.
According to the source, more transactions are surfacing that were undertaken recently between the Georgetown Municipality and the same phantom company — AP Global Supplies, purportedly of Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, including cellular telephones and other computer accessories; and there are additional products bought from other companies that similarly do not exist.
The most recent to have been discovered — which emerged even before the mayor’s request for a formal probe into financial irregularities had commenced — involves the purchase of millions of dollars in disinfectant and sanitization supplies for use by the Council.
Again, those vouchers have been signed by acting Finance Chairman Junior Garrett, and when the addresses and contact information of the companies that quoted for the supply of the items were investigated, some turned out to be phantom business places. This, despite a standard operating procedure being in place and requiring the municipality to enter into transactions with authorized distributors and reputable agencies for products and services needed by the municipality.