DEPUTY mayor confirms why Opposition-controlled City Hall is a failure

OLD Kai is astonished at the professional incompetence proudly displayed by our Deputy Mayor of the capital city, Mrs. Patricia Chase-Green.

The issue surrounds a move by the Town Clerk, Ms. Carol Sooba, to increase the fees for vending along the traditional Mashramani route as a means of bringing in much needed income to the cash-strapped operations of City Hall.

We are informed that this move is being viciously opposed by the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and some of their acolytes within the Council. In fact, according to a Stabroek News article on the issue, “Mrs. Chase-Green sees this new initiative by the Town Clerk as a way of destroying Mashramani as it was exploiting vendors who were trying to do business on that day, while adding that small vendors are now being asked to pay $10,000 and $15,000 for spots.”

Further, according to the article, Mrs. Green had pointed out that “the main reason for collecting fees for spots on Mashramani Day was for the council to earn ‘some’ cash so as to clean up the garbage after the celebration. She said the clean-up exercise costs between $356,000 and $400,000.”

Old Kai was not aware that City Hall is the new Dharm Shala! Imagine these words are coming from the second highest ranking official within City Hall who has sat there for years presiding over the deterioration of the M&CC, to the point where even the workers could not be paid several months at a time, our streets are filled with garbage, canals cannot be cleaned and roads repaired. Small wonder that the iconic building they are housed in is also falling apart.

So our question to the Deputy Mayor who loves to speak, but apparently does not think before she enunciates, is how does charging a minimal increase for vending along the Mash route equate to destroying Mashramani?

Those vendors are not out there to provide a service free of cost to revellers; they are out there to make a profit. They have seen it is profitable and like any other entrepreneur, large or small, will exploit that opportunity.

The narrow-minded approach to managing City Hall by the Deputy Mayor and her opposition colleagues is even more evident when she pronounces that their sole aim is to raise around $400,000 to clean up after Mash Day and that is it. These are the geniuses in charge of our capital City and yet we sometimes act surprised at their inability to put proper systems in place and improve the overall conditions of our environment.

What about the fact that the sheer weight of traffic by both humans and machines along the stretch of roadway, including the slow-moving, heavy duty trucks would contribute to the accelerated deterioration of these roadways?

What about the fact that the vendors who bring their tents, machines, vehicles, etc, and set up camp literally on the edge of the canals will also contribute to the deterioration of the parapets along the stretch; and then this in turn will have further impact on the roadway?

What about trying to recoup some cost for having to pay all those City Hall staff that will be on duty during Mash Day, including the City Constabulary and the fact that they will expend more fuel having to drive around all day? Added to this is the fact that some of those very workers will also have to be paid by City Hall the following day to do the clean-up.

There are several other hidden costs which have also been overlooked by the Deputy Mayor, but there is no need to ‘stress’. Central Government as usual will step in to fix up the road when it is broken and if they do not, City Hall will ‘cuss dem’ until they do. Robeson and Ramsammy will also get their people to do the clean-up exercise, so City Hall workers can relax.

This is how the Opposition-controlled City Hall manages our city. Rather than running it with good business acumen to make it more effective, transparent and responsive to the needs of our people, we have the complete opposite.

Further, when the Town Clerk who appears like a one-woman army attempts to break away from this incompetence, she is attacked.

Fair enough, but reverting to outrageous lies to attack the woman is something which should be met with serious consequences as we are told by the Deputy Mayor that Ms. Sooba hiked the vending fees for Banks DIH from $360,000 to in excess of $800,000.

Ms. Green needs to say where she came up with that figure, as according to Ms. Sooba, it was simply an increase of $40,000 from the $360,000 original fee taking it to $400,000 for Banks DIH occupying several prime spots on Mash day.

It is an 11% increase and clearly contradicts the assertion by the Deputy Mayor that it was more than a 300% increase.

How can this individual with a clear lack of business acumen be placed in such a significant position when City Hall is in financial shambles and is crying out for dynamic leadership to overcome this morass on incompetence?

Mashramani is not a national holiday, Republic Day is and Mashramani is one of the main activities to celebrate this landmark occasion every year.

While the Mayor and Deputy Mayor continue to stick their heads in the sand, Mashramani has now become a major economic venture. Vendors go there to make money, businesses participate in the float parade to market their enterprises and/or products, stores cash in on the big Mash sales, even costumes are now on sale, suppliers cash in, even the ‘chick chick and 3-card’ board men will go home smiling.

But according to our Mayor and Deputy Mayor, “What has happened is that spot has now become an economic venture for the council….to gain money and that was never the intention….It is a national holiday…we can’t charge people to watch the parade. We are going to tell people don’t pay a cent.”

These two still seem lost in the past as no one is proposing charging patrons to watch the parade; Old Kai challenges them to point out where was that ever indicated.

Vendors are being asked to pay a minimal increase which is part of efforts to attract additional sources of funding no matter how small for City Hall. In all of this we are told that only Banks DIH has pulled out because it does not want to pay the $40,000 increase for the areas it would usually occupy but everyone else is still on board.

So it looks as though Ms. Sooba has once again prevailed over the dinosaurs at City Hall.

In closing, it is necessary to point out that Old Kai in the mid-90s worked in one of those very tents situated along the stretch. So I am very much aware of how much money they made since then. In fact, I was paid $5,000 for the day and no, I did not stash anything from the box even though my job was to make the change and watch everyone else. That was close to 20 years ago, so you can only imagine the revenue these days.

Old Kai will be out there and who knows, I might even land another job serving you from a tent this year. But don’t expect my fee hike will be anything like Ms. Sooba’s, it will more likely be in the Deputy Mayor’s 300% range.

Happy Republic Day to all Guyanese and do enjoy your Mashramani!