Linden Town Week (LTW) 2013 will run from Saturday April 26 to Sunday May 5 and Fitzherbert Ralph, the public relations officer, says  that  all plans are on stream and  a bigger and better event  can be expected.

In the meantime, he rebutted allegations against the current Linden Town Week Committee (LTWC) Chairman, Eon Halls and calls for his removal or the cancellation of the annual week of activities.
Ralph at the same time expressed his solid support for the embattled chairman of the Linden Town Week Committee, who has been accused of not performing his duties while some councillors have called for his removal.
However, Ralph reminded that the elevation of Halls, a People’s Progressive Party /Civic councilor, to chairmanship of the LTWC came as a result of actions brought by the “very people who are today clamoring for his removal.”
The outspoken Ralph said: “it is good to note that the council consists of three People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) and fifteen People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNC/R) councillors and on relinquishing of the Chairmanship by Ms Dawn Caynes due to migration, the opportunity was afforded these disgruntled councillors to remove management of the LTW from out of the reach of Linden Town Council’s Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman Orrin Gordon and councillor Winston Smith. It is out of that situation that Mr. Halls was unanimously elected as chairman.”
Ralph further stated that the move was “precisely to stop the alleged corrupt practices of the previous management of the LTW C.
He contended that this very gentleman enjoyed the confidence at that time as being as the most upright councillor from among both the political parties but now they seem “bent on removing office bearers at their whims and fancies.”
He said the fact of the matter is, “Mr. Halls has taken measures to stop and to prevent sub-committee leaders from taking actions that in effect could subvert the authority and smooth management of the LTWC.”
Ralph pointed out that one was when Mr. Halls objected to councillors writing letters in their name to potential sponsors using the TWC letterhead.
Mr. Halls objected also to councillors who headed sub-committees “making decisions without the authority of the substantive committee that in effect would increase the operational costs of the LTWC.” He said these among other things infuriated those councillors who have now become his detractors.
On the issue of Halls not fulfilling his mandate as chairman for the LTWC, Ralph responded that “they have stated that he has politicized the business of the LTWC by appealing to the government officials, when they by their own utterances have declared that their political leadership is in support of the actions that are being taken, so why is it right for them to communicate with their political leadership and Halls not right to do so?”
Ralph insisted that their allegations reside in their belief that going that route would allow them to bring the PNC/R support to the issue. However Ralph said recently when the councillors opposed to Halls demonstrated for his removal, there were others from the PNC/R who came out in support of Halls continuing as chairman.
He noted that when Prime Minister Samuel Hinds was in Linden recently as part of the government’s budget talks outreach, these councillors approached him and when asked what wrong Halls had done “there were no intelligent answers.”
He concluded that the allegations against Halls “were groundless and the councillors’ behaviour was treacherous as we have witnessed the outpouring of support from the wider community for Mr. Halls.”