IS THIS GUY FOR REAL!

– Are we to believe that Mayor Hamilton Green drives around the City using up in excess of $130,000 worth of fuel for his vehicle within a period of 12 days?
IS Mayor Hamilton Green driving a gas-guzzling Hummer vehicle? Old Kai does not think so. Therefore, it perplexes the mind that Mayor Green would reportedly expend well over $130,000 on fuel for his vehicle within a period of 12 days.

If these figures are accurate, we can have a fair idea of what his fuel consumption is causing tax payers of the City per month. This situation was brought to light by Town Clerk Carol Sooba, who revealed in a Guyana Chronicle article of April 29, 2014 that the Mayor had recently requested a refund for gasoline to the tune of $100,000 which he claimed he paid for, after being provided in excess of 30 gallons of gasoline a mere 12 days prior to his request for refund.

Georgetown is a very small city, and even if the Mayor travelled out of town on a few occasions, it still does not explain the consumption of approximately 130 gallons of gasoline in the space of 12 days.

Did the Mayor drive to Lethem or neighbouring Suriname twice during this period, to justify this type of consumption? So as to get a better idea, a drum or barrel would contain roughly 50 to 55 gallons of fuel; therefore Mayor Green’s consumption pattern would have seen him using in excess of two drums of fuel for his vehicle in 12 days.
Old Kai is not familiar with the methods employed by the City Council in the management of fuel consumption, but I would suggest the hurried implementation of a system that is similar to that of Government Ministries, whereby a reading of the odometer is taken before the vehicle is fuelled up, and then compared at the next period to ensure the fuel inputted corresponds with the distance recorded by the vehicle. Accurate record logs must also be maintained by the driver entrusted with the municipality’s property.

There is no way this significant expenditure in fuel by Mayor Green could be justified at a time when the M&CC is struggling with its finances; and, in turn, we are told that this is the reason why the City Council cannot provide better services to the taxpayers of Georgetown.
It is no other than the Mayor himself who has made this point on numerous occasions, and Old Kai recalls a media report appearing in the Kaieteur News in January 2009 in which he was quoted as saying that the situation had reached such an alarming extent that the municipality “cannot repair one foot of road, including those around City Hall, which are filled with a number of disgraceful potholes.”

The municipal situation, he was reported as saying, is compounded by its inability to pay its utility bills, and it is indebted to the Guyana Power and Light as well as the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Then we are told that even things as simple as acquiring a photocopier is beyond the municipality’s financial reach, according to the City Mayor, who pointed out that all of the small matters that exist at the municipality amount to the microcosm of what the municipality actually faces.

Yes, I agree with the Mayor. But how is expending such a huge sum of finance on fuel for his vehicle helping the situation at City Hall? This brings me back to the Chronicle report earlier this year, which had also quoted Town Clerk Sooba as expressing frustration that the absurd behaviour of the Mayor has led to the conclusion that the Council has to take care of him and all his needs.

“Anything wrong with the Mayor, or anything he needs, the Council has to provide that for him,” she was quoted as saying.
This is rather revealing, and all taxpayers should take note of this development, as while I am not against the legitimate entitlements of the Mayor and other officials of the Council, we must guard against the abuse of the Council’s limited resources, particularly since the council has an infamous history of financial mismanagement.

In the meantime, Old Kai is still waiting on Mayor Green to explain how he used over $130,000 in fuel over 12 days, when he had admitted in the past that the council did not have the resources to even patch up a pothole in the City.