Dear Editor,

THERE are several reasons why the city council will have a great impact on the general elections come 2020, because of its blatant, poor resource management, misappropriations of municipal funds, and endorsement of nepotism that produces poor urban services. Its cries of resource limitations have forged projects with poor data analysis, interpretation and implementation that cause severe discomfort to citizens of Georgetown and the President himself.

Let me begin with the Mayor,Patricia Chase-Greene. This mayor has openly said that she called for several forensic audits of the municipal council before and after the elections, but to date she has never made any effort to actually bring in the auditors, since it will embarrass she herself. It is alleged that her sons have received large contracts from a municipal council that is not only cash-strapped, but strapped to pay its workers monthly. Her sons allegedly received contracts from purely selective bidding as against an open procurement process, whereby everyone has a chance to bid all because of being the mayor. It is alleged that one contract for merely weeding some parapets has amounted to millions of dollars. The mayor brought a parking meter contract to the country and thrust it upon the people of Georgetown without adequate transport analysis and interpretation, putting clearly in the path an embarrassment to the engineering department staff who for all lack a command of engineering, beginning with the city engineer. In fact, Mr. President, it was required by one of your ministers to ban all metered systems being erected on selective main roads to ease the financial burdens on the citizens of Georgetown.

It is also alleged that the mayor demanded her personal friends be employed without again an open application process to adjudge the best and most suitable candidate. I now ask you Mr. President, is this the kind of representative you want for your party, since the AFC has openly severed any communication and relationship with her. I hope come next year during the next local government elections, your party will distance itself from her, since there are already several members in the PNC anticipating she will gracefully step aside.
The town clerk which should be a sacred seat has seen the selection for the position by your government as a disaster and a grave mistake, which is now being echoed by several members of your party.

This town clerk pontificates about ethical practices but defies your minister, the subject minister for local government organs by publicly and disdainfully rejecting the call for a halt to the parking meter project and yet still remain as the town clerk of Georgetown. The Linden town clerk did little, but was fired, so why he still remains in the seat of the town clerk? In fact, his track record has proven to be insubordinative many years ago. Not only has he rejected duties given to him by his superiors in the past, he also did that under the previous town clerk Carol Sooba, which was trumpeted by the current mayor and some sections of the old guards in council, publicly.

It is alleged that he had never submitted a report for his department during those periods of Sooba’s rule, intentionally stymieing the work of the council for which this was championed again by the current mayor in the name of Sooba was unqualified. He removed several vendors across Georgetown without any adequate plan on the relocation process only to cause severe financial and social disruption to their daily lives all in the name of a green city. Several contracts also were inked by him without the adequate procurement process being adhered to, clearly swindling taxpayers’of their money. Recently in the Sunday Kaieteur News, dated June 11, 2017,the report of the town clerk renting toilets for his premises was a total embarrassment to the council.

I am certain that under any other government, Royston King would have being given the marching boots without a formal letter. So I ask the question, why is he untouchable, even though Minister Bulkan clearly indicated in a letter to the editor that he the town clerk is a “Servant of the Council” and the minister’s office?
It is also being reported in the print media that some officers are about to face disciplinary action for non-cooperation with the city engineer, when that department should solely be focusing on improved urban services. Why don’t your government send in a team to investigate this claim to get to the bottom of it ?

There are also allegations of the city engineer Colvern Venture granting approval to building plans without the necessary financial fees which is clearly a loss of revenue to the council that is already cash-strapped and without proper urban data integration which puts pressure on a city terrain that is also severely burdened by changing climatic conditions, but has being clearly ignored by the administrative and political arms. Why don’t the mayor call for a forensic audit on the works of the engineer’s department, specifically the City Engineer Colvern Venture? It is alleged that he the City Engineer Colvern Venture was blasted several times for the works he undertook as a result, specifically for the working knowledge on his engineering competence by past administrations of the municipality and project financial expenditure. He was also considered as the most woeful undergraduate engineer from the University of Guyana by his colleagues, based on his academic output. So why was he even considered for the position?

I now ask you Mr. President, with all the forensic audits being meted out to several government agencies, institutions and functionaries, why is the City Council being ignored. Freddie Kissoon will be correct that these political figures and functionaries will bring great rejection to the overall polls for your government come 2020, since the district of (Georgetown) has always increased your chances of victory.

Regards
Terrell Waveney Roberts