REITERATING what was made clear by Acting Town Clerk, Ms Carol Sooba last week, Minister of Local Government, Norman Whittaker yesterday sought to advise that the sale of Mash Day vending spots was a revenue-earning activity for which the Acting Town Clerk was responsible for. 

The revenue-generating activity, he further explained, was an activity of the City Council, which “ought not to be executed or managed from the Mayor’s Office.” This, he posited, would be “highly irregular.”
“This activity must be viewed as an economic project that ought to be administered and supervised from the Office of the Town Clerk (Ag), or the City Treasurer’s Office under the direction and supervision of the Town Clerk (Ag). It is a revenue- garnering opportunity for the Council; not for individuals of the Council,” the minister said yesterday in a statement.
He said that as the Chief Executive Officer of the Council, Ms Sooba’s responsibility is to ensure, inter alia, that all financial activities or events are strictly monitored to ensure they are approved by the authorised authority, recorded, transparent and not done in an ad hoc fashion, devoid of transparency and/or in breach of financial or other regulations.
This being the case, Whittaker said, there is no executive function or authority reposed in the Mayor or his Office or the Council itself. “They cannot usurp the duties and responsibilities of the Town Clerk or City Treasurer,” he said.
Shedding light on the authoritative figures responsible for financial transactions, the minister further explained that there are issues to do with issuing of valid Council receipts for monies collected from the public; recording of these sums collected in the financial records of the Council; providing Financial Statements summarizing the revenue, authorized expenditure and surpluses from these activities.
He was quick to add, however, that there are officers authorised by the Municipal and District Councils Act to deal with these financial matters, and they are certainly not the Mayor or Councillors randomly selected.
He disclosed that financial records have revealed that since the Town Clerk’s office started managing the event, net revenue to the Council has increased significantly.
He also took the opportunity to reflect on a letter he wrote to the Mayor and Town Clerk in 2013 and 2014, expressing concerns with respect to reports reaching his office and identifying several anomalies with respect to the implementation of Council’s decisions by the Social Development Committee of the Council.
These reports, he added, included claims of “free spots, or discounts on spots, for family, friends, specific organisations.”There were also issues of persons and organisations who were tardy in paying and those who had to wait for lengthy periods to be paid, the minister added.
He continued that all should be reminded of the “ruckus occasioned by the irregularities of the 2014 activities as a result of the political interference by His Worship and sidekicks.”
As such, he sought to reiterate that while the Council may wish to have a committee, by whatever name it is called, to oversee the sale of spots and other related activities, it is the city treasurer, acting under the direction and supervision of the town clerk who must manage these activities.
He concluded by urging every stakeholder to “work together to ensure that Mashramani 2015 celebrations are a success story”, and in so doing, give credence to the theme of our 2015 Mashramani celebration: “One People, One Culture, One Celebration.”
Meanwhile, the Acting Town Clerk yesterday assured this publication that sales for vending spots were “going well.” She added that while sales on Wednesday were a bit slow, Monday, Tuesday and yesterday have seen a remarkable response from members of the public, who were eager to transact business in this manner.
Sooba also took the opportunity to advise the public not to be misguided by any official from the mayor’s office into believing that there are “free spots” available. She continued that if the spots given through the “free ticket” clashes with any spot which would have been sold from her office, the person who issued the “free ticket” would be apprehended by officers of the City Constabulary or the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Mash Day.