— functioning as a team, not two separate entities

COMMUNITIES Minister Mr. Ronald Bulkan has commended the municipality of Mabaruma in Region One for showing maturity after months of division over leadership.

“After months of stalemate, when the election for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor were called, the Mabaruma Municipality, in Region One, is defying expectations,” Minister Bulkan said on Saturday during a visit to the region.

He profusely praised the mayor, deputy mayor and councillors for their collective decision to function as a team, and not as two separate political parties; and particularly singled out People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillor Mr. Vibert Emmanuel and APNU+AFC Councillor Mr. Leslie Robinson for the roles they have played in sharing meetings of the Town Council on occasions when the mayor-designate could not have so done because of the litigations that were initiated following the deadlock over the Council’s leadership.

“On behalf of the Ministry, and on behalf of the residents of the township,” Minister Bulkan said, “I would like to thank the two councillors in particular for that spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation, because it is that spirit and that attitude that would take us far,” the minister said.

He also said that in many respects the Mayor and Town Council of Mabaruma is a shining example for the other local democratic organs to emulate.

“You are leading the way, and you are showing citizens and communities across the country that we can rid ourselves of the blinders that many of us put on, and that we can look at the bigger picture and the larger good, which is the interest of the people who have placed us there,” Minister Bulkan said.

He said he was happy to acknowledge the actions of the municipality, because there was nothing preventing the council’s members from going into the council and adopting a different attitude; “one of resistance, and one of attaching yourself to certain positions from which you have found ample justification.”

Said the minister: “We can always justify our actions, whatever they are; but you have chosen, as a Council and as individuals, to bring an enlightened attitude. You have risen above self-interest and pettiness for petty politics, and you have demonstrated by your actions that you understand that there is a time for politics and there is a time for leadership.”

EVIDENT SPLIT
Following the local government elections of March 18, the Municipal Council of Mabaruma was evenly split between the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC parties. Each group obtained six seats on the 12-member Town Council. For months, several attempts to hold critical meetings that would lead to the election of office bearers, including the mayor, were thwarted.
In fact, although Mr. Henry Smith was sworn in as Mayor of Mabaruma by President David Granger, he was, for months, unable to function in that capacity, as Justice Diana Insanally had granted an interim order quashing the appointment which had been made by Minister Bulkan.

The injunction is barring Henry from functioning as mayor, but instead of being hampered, the Council has been skillfully manoeuvring around the injunction to ensure the functioning of the municipality. Working together, they collectively arrived at the decision that the mayor withdraws from the position, to give the council an opportunity to elect a chairperson to chair the meeting in the interest of the municipality’s programmes.