GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Mr. Clement Rohee, yesterday urged the Government not to channel monies into the hands of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) as they possess a fraudulent record of mismanagement.

He acknowledged the Government’s efforts to put one billion dollars towards a countrywide cleanup and reiterated his party’s support for this budgetary allocation which is aimed at enhancing the surroundings while, at the same time, combating improper solid waste management throughout the country.
The initiative, which will be executed under the theme ‘Clean up my Country’ would be larger than two previously launched.
The $1B allocated towards the project will be divided proportionally, with Georgetown receiving $500M in aid of restoring the Garden City.
Rohee, who is also Minister of Home Affairs, declared that Georgetown “has become a garbage city as the Mayor continues to mismanage the Council and gobble up the city’s resources.”
He continued that the PPP wishes to discourage the Government from putting the $500M budgeted for the city in the hands of the Mayor and his council, especially “in view of their sordid fraudulent record of mismanagement and unaccountability at City Hall.”
Instead, Rohee said:“We urge Government to engage civil society to find ways and means of addressing the solid waste crisis in Georgetown.”

INVALUABLE LESSONS
He also admonished Mayor Hamilton Green and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green to learn invaluable lessons on how to manage and run an effective local democratic organ from other PPP/C administered municipalities as well as the wider Caribbean.
Rohee opined that with the absence of the M&CC, they (the Government) will seek to source labour from public or even private institutions or even seek a collaborative effort from the two.
The Minister charged that Mayor Hamilton Green is hungry for media attention in an effort to remain relevant and regain his rank within the People’s National Congress (PNC) and continues to play dirty politics as opposed to serving the interests of the residents of Georgetown.
Green in an interview with INEWS recently, said that, while he welcomed the initiative, he saw no need for the money and that it is unnecessary.
He added that the figure seems more like an election campaign being launched by the Government ahead of the local government elections, similar to a move made by the very government in 1994.
According to the Mayor, had the Government allowed the city to run its affairs and enforce and implement several taxation proposals, the city would have been in a better physical state.
By Ravin Singh