HUNDREDS of citizens on Friday protested the recently implemented parking meter system, even as City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green made it clear that citizens will have to get used to the meters as they are here to stay.The peaceful protest which comprised a wide cross-section of citizens took a turn for the worse when City Hall brought out its own people to protest in support of the parking meters. Many of the protestors stood silently on the northern side of City Hall holding their placards, which read, “#notoparkingmeters”, “Can’t afford to pay for parking”, “No consultations, no meters”, “Guyana is not ready for parking meters”, “ Why y’all killing poor people” and “No zoning, no feasibility study.”
The protest was led by persons associated with the group, “Movement Against Parking Meters,” but their movement ended abruptly after one of their own was taken into custody following reports that he had threatened two women who protested in favour of the parking meters. The man arrested is said to be a former councillor of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown.
Meanwhile, several City Councillors were seen joining citizens in their protest against the parking meters project and the sight of that provoked the Mayor, who accused the Councillors of dishonesty.
She told the Guyana Chronicle that all Councilors were involved in the project and noted that in the case of outgoing Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan, he like other members of the City Council were part of discussions on the matter.
Duncan and Deputy Mayor-elect, Lionel Jaikaran, along with at least two other Councillors of the M&CC, stood in protest lines in front of City Hall. The Deputy Mayor displayed a placard with the words: “Listen to the people,” as he chanted on the larger protest band.
“Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor- elect, they were part and parcel in this whole thing in advising and say look put in this, take out that. And now at the end of the day, on the other side like if they don’t know anything,” Mayor Chase-Green told the Guyana Chronicle.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor -elect Jaikaran is of the view that there was lack of transparency and consultation in the process of implementation by City Hall. He said his interest is in putting the city of Georgetown first.
“I am against the parking meters because … lack of transparency and consultation of it; there are no public or private sector consultation; it was not transparent in the open there and it should have been tendered for. This is about Guyana first, Georgetown first. This has nothing to do with politics, this has to do with being a good Guyanese wanting representation from the City Council,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.

According to Jaikaran, some of the councillors voted against implementation of the system. “Majority rules in every situation, but it’s not to say that we are happy with it, we’re not happy with it. And that’s why we’re out here today, to let the public know our views, that we are not part and parcel pushing this all to the people.”
The city Mayor and Town Clerk Royston King have maintained that the implementation of the parking meter system is an avenue for the municipality to receive revenue and also to provide jobs, but Deputy Mayor Duncan said there still remains a cry for social justice. “I’ve always maintained that the ends don’t justify the means. We could push cocaine and create jobs, but do we agree with that? We could do lots of things in this city that are illegal and not right and create lots of jobs, and so the ends don’t justify the means. All we want is that we listen to the people.”
Duncan said too that he never supported the by-laws, though he had participated in a meeting of the council on the issue. He said the contract was signed and then brought to the council instead of the other way around.
“I never voted for the by-laws. We sit as Councillors here, but we have a right to vote, to abstain from voting and to vote against anything. That is part of your democratic right. I have maintained one position: During local government, I said as a revenue- earner, parking meters are good … again the principle is that the end don’t justify the means, you got to go about it the right way. I cannot agree to anything that breaches the tender and the tender rules or even that flouts the council.… This parking meters was never discussed by councillors before it was signed, it was signed and then brought to the council. How can I agree to that? And that has been my one stance from the very inception.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Chase-Green told the Guyana Chronicle,that no one had visited her office to raise concerns about the system prior to its final implementation and as such, was disappointed that citizens turned up in their numbers to protest openly.
“But if the parking meters were not in place, they would not have been able to occupy all of that space. And that is how healthy my city is gonna get. You’re gonna get clean, fresh air and no pollution, less congestion in my city. But the parking meter is a reality,” Mayor Chase-Green added.