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The minister said he has seen the very difficult situations Mayor Hamilton Green has put Town Clerk Carol Sooba through.
He said the LGRD Ministry would have sought assistance of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to allow Ms Sooba access to her office, but she has chosen to discharge her duties from the sanctity of a private entity.
He said Mayor Green continues to throw tantrums and mislead persons around the market to agitate for the removal of acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba; but the LGRD Ministry has seen that the acting town clerk is doing everything within her powers to marshal the City Hall staff efficiently, and that the M&CC has been benefiting effectively from Sooba’s transparent and effective discharge of her duties.
The minister opined that Ms Sooba’s success at City Hall is seemingly causing discomfort to the mayor, who seems to enjoy functioning in an environment where there is lack of accountability and transparency, and where he can abuse his authority and power and taxpayers’ resources.
Minister Ganga Persaud highlighted that establishing an Interim Management Committee (IMC) is a complicated matter, especially if the IMC is intended to replace the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). He explained that, in light of recent events, one councillor obtained a legal order which restrains the LGRD Minister from even contemplating to move into consultation with persons to get their views, as citizens, on whether or not they would prefer Georgetown to be run by an IMC.
Establishing an IMC would have to be done in a process of votes cast by the citizens and the council; but the minister posited that in areas where an IMC is functioning, there is absolutely no trouble of the sort that obtains on a daily basis at the M&CC.
He was confident that none of the IMCs established throughout Guyana would have caused to citizens within their confines the amount of stress and distress that the M&CC was causing Georgetown citizens.
He said the mayor would need to focus more on removing the tons of garbage that are ubiquitous in the city, and unclogging drains that are the main cause of a mosquito plague in Georgetown.
“He ought to leave the Town Clerk to do her duties, while he focuses on beautifying Georgetown,” Minister Ganga Persaud declared.
Those councillors who support Mayor Green’s actions, and have been taking home handsome stipends for hardly doing any work, are encouraged to assist the mayor in cleaning the city as well.
Minister Persaud declared that the LGRD Ministry stands firmly behind acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba, as it is clear she is seeking to restore at City Hall, efficiency, transparency, accountability and caution when managing taxpayers’ resources.
The minister said that engaging in discussion with certain persons, he found them of the opinion that the mayor’s action in opposing the town clerk might be based on gender and ethnicity issues, and that is probably why the mayor is doing everything in his power to hamper Sooba’s work.
Minister Persaud also said he wishes to encourage the staff and the councillors who are supportive of the town clerk’s work; and added that maybe Mayor Green has been around for too long, and it is very hard to teach the mayor to renounce the old ways and proceed along a path of development. He noted that “one cannot teach an old dog new tricks.”
Persaud posited that change is inevitable for some, while positive change is never possible for some; and maybe that is why the mayor has resorted to tactics he knows best; blocking entrances may be one of those tactics.
He said that whatever the mayor is doing by preventing the town clerk and her staff from entering the compound is very distasteful, illegal and unlawful.
Minister within the Local Government Ministry, Mr. Norman Whittaker, at a press conference earlier this week, had pointed out that since her assumption of office, the acting town clerk has made numerous efforts to revive the once favourable financial position of the municipality, and information reaching the ministry has indicated that she is also trying her utmost to excise additional expenditures.
He said that when Sooba took office, she was welcomed by the very set of people who are now trying to boot her out of office. Their change in behaviour occurred when she started to implement strict measures aimed at improving the ways things are being done at City Hall.
He explained that since her appointment, persons have been showing up to work on time, things within the municipality are being done in a timely manner, and stationery and fuel control are among the many other positive things that have been implemented.
Whittaker said that the mayor and his councillors, who are obviously threatened by Sooba’a success at getting things done, are resorting to doing all sorts of things to cause Sooba to become fearful and discouraged, and accordingly leave her job
He noted that, whenever in doubt on any matter, Sooba would contact the LGRD Ministry for clarification, in order to ensure that her job is done correctly.
He noted that the mayor, along with the security officials at City Hall who would have denied Sooba access to her office by confrontation and intimidation, should think carefully about what they are doing. The LGRD Ministry has sought advice from Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell on how to proceed with the matter at hand.
He said that regarding the motion that the council would have passed to have the town clerk removed from office, the council can continue passing motions, the legislation is clear: the decision to remove the town clerk from her position lies only with the Minister of Local Government, being Mr Ganga Persaud. Only he can authorise Sooba’s removal from office.
Concluding, Whittaker pointed out that, thus far, there is no good reason to have Sooba removed from office for merely doing the right thing. He said she would continue functioning effectively in her post; and if the right thing involves interfering with the favours and niceties that certain individuals at City Hall have been enjoying and abusing, then so be it.
