–after testy clash with Local Gov’t Minister

GEORGETOWN Mayor Hamilton Green, Saturday, abruptly left the panel in which several parties were discussing how to disburse the $1B budgetted to deal with solid waste disposal.
The venue of the discussions was the Amerindian Village at the Sophia Exhibition Centre, and officials from various ministries comprised the panel.

After commending Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud; Minister of Local Government & Regional Development, Norman Whittaker; and Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, on the

initiative, the Mayor went straight into the proverbial Memory Lane, breaking “his silence” and accusing the ministers of a “certain amount of inconsistency” when they would have already voiced measures being implemented to combat the issue of solid waste disposal in the city of Georgetown.

Mayor Green told Minister Whittaker that it was “wrong, inappropriate, undemocratic and unacceptable” for him to have engineers consult directly with the City Engineer, as he had just declared, since, by so doing, the Minister was allowing an external agency to consult with City officials without going through the “duly elected official.”
Minister Whittaker, in defence, responded confidently: “The engineers have made significant contributions to works that are being done.” Moreover, Minister Whittaker expounded that in 2013, a Motion which had to do with the restoration of Georgetown was passed in the National Assembly and supported by the ruling Party, whereby the Ministry of Local Government had set up four committees to discuss the outcome of the proposal to facilitate the said motion, and all but two out of the four committees completed their work.

He made the point that the $1B made available by the Government is distinct from the restoration bid, and the two “must not be confused,” since it is still a work-in-progress awaiting completion of the committees’ work.
Minister Whittaker concluded by providing a synopsis of the implementation of that project, since it hails at improving the environment, and not only of Georgetown, but rather important sections of the regions. He said the Ministry and the Minister determines who, in his view, are the people who could make a difference and could see the work progress.

Minister Whittaker then calmly disclosed, “This is not about the politics; this is about getting things done. And the people we had on board were technically competent people who could get things done.”

After several other parties had voiced their opinions, Mayor Green brought to the fore the scenario involving trucks at the City Council, deeming the trucks there “second hand”.

Minister Whittaker responded that the planning committee for the Georgetown clean-up had allocated substantial funds to rehabilitate several pieces of equipment at City Council, and that the city engineer had listed the defective vehicles and machines to undergo this rehabilitation; but, he said, the City Council must be “meaningfully involved, and we want to help them.”

On that note, Mayor Green walked out of the venue.

(By Shivanie Sugrim)