Dear Editor,
WILL this administration and those in authority in Guyana wait until everything in Georgetown collapses totally before intervening and bringing a halt to the anarchy and madness that is prevailing at City Hall?

It is clear for all to see that the Council has disintegrated to a point where the basic functions and responsibilities of a municipal government are no longer being carried out. The “Fantastic Four” and their cohorts are so inept and ineffective, that they are unable to collect outstanding property rates and other sources of revenue from delinquents, and instead continue to penalise law-abiding citizens who honour their commitments to the city with more and increased taxes. This is just leading to widespread corruption and criminality.

The city has a town clerk who lacks the legal qualifications which are mandatory for the job. Further, he has refused to proceed on his leave which he has accumulated over the years. This ought to be questioned by the minister, since there is no Local Government Commission in place to do so. In fact, someone should say why this gentleman is not going on his leave.

The Council’s payroll which is paid late to workers each month including this month, when their poor workers are expected to kit out their children for school, is sagging under the weight of a bloated top- heavy staff strength, which must have broken a world record for nepotism and cronyism. At City Hall, the popular idiom obtains, ‘Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.’ There is need for an urgent cut in the workforce by at least 50% on a last-in, first-out policy, which would address the friends and family employment malpractice that has been going on at the Council for the last two years.

City Hall is swimming in a sea of debt with approximately a billion dollars owed the Guyana Power and Light, over three hundred million dollars owed the garbage contractors, hundreds of millions owed the Guyana Revenue Authority, National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Water Inc.

Is this not considered total failure, bankruptcy, a fiasco and an implosion? Should the senior administrators at City Hall not be immediately removed and replaced with persons with greater competence and ability? Or are they waiting for a complete financial meltdown before doing so? One can only hope that the plan is not to use taxpayers’ money to give them another bailout

Regards
Nadine Jerrick