BUSINESS executive and former journalist Carwyn Holland seems well poised to be elected mayor of Linden, well-placed sources within the APNU+AFC coalition have said. The coalition swept the Linden municipality at the recent Local Government Elections winning 15 of the 16 seats on the new Linden Town Council. The coalition won all eight of the First-Past-the-Post seats and seven of the proportional representation seats at the elections. The Guyana Chronicle was told that Holland is likely to be elected when the council meets for the first time on Friday. However, reports are that Wainwright Bethune and Pastor Leroy James – both APNU+AFC candidates have their eyes set on the top post at the council. Waneka Arindel is well poised to take the deputy mayoral post, the Chronicle was told.
Holland of Richmond Hill, Linden, had told this newspaper in an earlier interview that he will address, “head-on”, the many issues affecting the people of the mining town once he is elected mayor. Holland had been financing a number of charitable projects in the mining town since the age of 19. He contested in the Proportional Representation (PR) component, Constituency 4. In the interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Holland had said that he was ready to join a fresh group of young, vibrant leaders who will stand committed to the development of Linden, a town ever so often described as a depressed community with a high rate of unemployment. “The Linden IMC is in a sad state,” Holland posited. However, he said it is no fault of the current Chairman of the Linden Interim Management Committee (IMC) Orrin Gordon, who took office after the fall of Stanley Smith, the last Mayor of Linden.
“He did one hell of a job in trying to lift the level of the operation of the council. He tried his best and I believe that he did a reasonable job. Under strenuous circumstances, he fought against the regime, and he fought against the authorities to get betterment for Linden, but he did not get anything,” Holland said. Lack of support from the previous administration, insufficient funding, poor management and a political divide that tore the council to pieces are among the contributing factors that have led to the current state of affairs of the council. According to Holland, the subvention supplied to the Linden Mayor and Town Council on an annual basis was clearly insufficient. “Linden needs a fresh injection.”
“Approximately 70% of the roads in Linden are uncapped, about 30 per cent are capped. To do one kilometre of road is about $80M, our subvention is $11M, now what can we do with that?”
In addition to the push for an increase in the annual subvention to the council, the APNU+AFC candidate said once elected to office, a proposal will be made for the municipality to receive a greater percentage of the revenues being garnered at the Mackenzie\Wismar Bridge. The Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge is managed by the NICIL through the Linmine Secretariat, but a percentage of the revenues garnered is given to the council.