–Whittaker

THE cash-strapped Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is currently eligible for more than $21M in subvention, but is unable to benefit from it as a result of failing to provide the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development with a subvention proposal. 

Such a proposal is required, Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker said Monday at a press conference, and therefore the money will not be remitted to the troubled City Council once it is not provided.
Speaking at the ministry, Fort Street, Kingston, in the presence of Permanent Secretary Collin Croal, he said the Georgetown City Council is the only municipality that has not provided such a proposal.
Just recently, Town Clerk Carol Sooba declared that the M&CC is in a better financial position than it was before she took over the office. Speaking at a press conference, she said the financial records of the council are now in proper order, and can stand up to any level of scrutiny.
Sooba said that unlike previous years, when workers’ statutory deductions were not being remitted to the various agencies, things have improved.
She said the M&CC has been remitting deductions from employees’ emoluments to the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Revenue Authority in accordance with the laws of Guyana and the guidelines which govern such remittances.

Moreover, the Council has also been able to fulfill its monthly obligation to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), paying over several millions monthly as part of an arrangement to clear accumulated electricity bills, which amount to millions of dollars.
Prior to Sooba assuming the position of Town Clerk, workers were forced to picket the council and take to the streets each month for their salaries, which in some cases were owed them for more than two months.
Workers were occasionally unable to receive their monies in time for the Christmas season, and in some cases had to spend that period without receiving their salaries. The situation was so dire that the Government of Guyana was, on many occasions, forced to make advance payments on rates and taxes for government buildings within the city in order to make money available for the M&CC to pay workers.
When the time for salaries and wages came around at City Hall and funds were not available to pay workers, the council, through its Mayor Hamilton Green, would inform that persons were not paying up their rates and taxes; and if there were any payments those were being done at a very low rate.
Despite those claims, however, the senior workers of the council were receiving their salaries while the ordinary workers were forced to wait months and weeks.

(By Telesha Ramnarine)