Dear Editor,
The level of nepotism being practiced by the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown is worse than any other form of corruption being practiced by any other institution in our country.
Why do I say that nepotism at City Hall (favouritism granted to relatives, friends and church colleagues) is one of the worst forms of corruption in the country?
First of all it is the magnitude to which it is being practiced is simply mind blowing. If a comprehensive audit of the human resources of the Council is done, it would be discovered that employed in every section and department of the Council are alarming numbers of persons who are the family members, relatives, friends, church associates, companions, partners, and acquaintances of senior officials both political and administrative within the Council.
And worse, these persons who are being employed at the expense of others who are better qualified, more experienced and better suited for positions that are not vital to the operations of the Council, but which are being filled anyway, are being placed at the top of the salary scales, superseding persons that were employed decades before at the municipality. Clearly unlawful and unethical. City Hall’s officials do not seem to understand that when given power and influence whether as an elected official or an appointed administrator, they should not use that power and influence to benefit their families.
If, as a municipal official, you appoint your son to clean the cemetery, and in doing so fail to appoint a better cleaning firm, you are diverting public money to your family, and putting good firms out of business. For those political leaders within, who hire their daughters-in-law one after another, to serve as their special assistants they have broken the trust of their electorate. Nepotism is not only the root or foundation of corruption in the Georgetown Municipality but it is also the fuel that feeds graft, it impoverishes the city and sets off one group of workers (those who are benefiting from the nepotism) against the others (those being made to lose out). It is a major contributor to the disunity and instability within the Council.
Regards
Sean Levius