Dear Editor
Please refer to article captioned the Story with the Story- “A cesspool of corruption at City Hall” penned by Leonard Gildarie and published on November 19, 2017. We are befuddled by the unusually strange contents of the article.

We are aware that individuals who write opinion pieces, such as this one under discussion, are not held to strict journalistic standards but this is no reason why those, who engage in this form of writing should not pay attention to facts and the truth. Mr. Gildarie seems to have discarded both of those values- facts and truth- in this article. In this regard, we feel obliged to point out a few of the many inaccuracies in this piece.

First, Mr. Gildarie unsuccessfully attempted to find linkages between recent developments in Zimbabwe and the Mayor and City Council. There are times when writers can find connections between similar or even different cases or events between nations and cities to underscore their arguments for change in particular circumstances.

However, this attempt could not achieve that because it did not take into account the differences in contexts of Zimbabwe and the Georgetown City Council; one is historical and political, in process and substance, the other is about resources and the need for more investment in the economy of the nation’s capital. Therefore, this article failed to address the real issues affecting the service delivery capacity of the Council.

Second, Mr. Gildarie’s comments about Zimbabwe’s former President Mr. Robert Mugabe and his family, “… flaunting their ill- gotten wealth…” paragraph 2, seems to suggest that the writer has evidence of corruption by former President Mugabe’s family residing in Zimbabwe. However, he did not go to the trouble to cite any particular court ruling that supports his claim.

Mr. Gildarie ought to know that he could not just write a story particularly if it likely to impugn the character of an individual or individuals, without the supporting evidence. Otherwise, it could be deemed irresponsible writing that has no utility to the good development of society. Further, he should know that stories reported in the media are not always predicated upon empirical evidence, truth or the real realities in communities; news stories are process products.

The writer goes on to commit a similar transgression against the City Council at paragraph 11 of his article when he said that, “…because of corruption, don’t care attitude and simple inefficiency have all contributed to a downward spiral.” Let us take a closer look at this statement:

Inefficiency is not unique to the City Council; it exists in almost every organisation in one form or another. This is not to say that we should not seek to improve our standards and general performance. In fact, we have had several training programmes and workshops to help enhance the competencies of our workers. Also, we have reorganised different departments and sections to make our general and specific operations more efficient and effective. The dynamics of the new city environment continue to influence our constant reviewing of municipal systems to provide services to local communities.

Also, the Council continues to build on a culture of care and responsibility. This is amply demonstrated by our collective effort to restore and sustainably develop Georgetown even in the face of very serious shortages of financial and other resources. Over the last two years, the Council has done substantial restorative works to many of its buildings, bridges and allied facilities.

It has removed garbage and rubbish that accumulated in every area of the city for more than twenty- three years. It has cleared canals and waterways, alleyways and repaired culverts and related drainage infrastructure. Generally, under this current leadership, the Mayor and City Council has changed the image of the nation’s capital. Our mission is to make Georgetown the cleanest city in the Caribbean. We have shown all Guyana what is possible. We need the resources to continue along this path to fulfill our mission. Therefore, it is not “don’t care attitude” as Mr. Gildarie supposed but the lack of resources that is preventing us from going forward.

Again, his statement about corruption at City Hall is very worrying. We have had several audits and none has pointed to corruption. Audits at the Council revealed the need to improve and strengthen our financial systems. In fact, we would be the first to admit, and we have admitted, that we need to enhance our reporting responsibilities in this area of our work. I have asked the Auditor General to come in and work with us to improve our systems; he has been very helpful.

In addition we have strengthened our internal audit section, developed a new software programme that will allow for greater transparency and accountability with general rates and other revenues. In addition, we have applied for support from the European Union for training and education in good corporate governance. There has been modest progress with this project but more needs to be done by related agencies to begin the first phase of this project next year.

Notwithstanding, the City Council has been carrying out its responsibilities in the face of many challenges. One such challenge is that, there has been no valuation of properties for more than two decades. Corporations and property- owners continue to enjoy the benefits of municipal services such as streetlights, roads, drainage, bridges, garbage collection and disposal, and other environmental and public health services without paying the real costs for them. Worse is the fact that some property- owners have not paid their rates for more than 10 years.

The cumbersomeness of the judicial process makes it difficult to recover outstanding rates from defaulters. This works as an incentive to those who are refusing and neglecting to pay their rates and honour their obligations to the city. Perhaps, in light of the aforementioned information, the writer may wish to redirect his comments about corruption.

For this reason, the Council has been exploring new revenue sources and ways to mobilize much needed resources to sustain even basic services to the city. These include: parking meters, container fees, cold storage and improved relations with cities at the international level. We have already said much on the parking meter project and the charge of a container fee.

On the visit to Fuzhou it is important for us to mention two important facts: (a) the visit was announced at full statutory meetings (it is in the minutes of the Council) and (b) it presented a narrow window of opportunity to the council to reactive sister city relations between Georgetown and Fuzhou, and to become an active member of a special 21st Century Maritime Cooperation Committee that would set up the effective dialogue and linkage mechanism, and to serve as a platform to share ideas and practices on maritime cooperation for cities and local governments in Asia- Pacific and the world at large.
The visit to Fuzhou is part of a wider plan to help mobilise resources for the municipality in the areas of training in technical skills, environment and sanitation, markets and infrastructure.

It is necessary to make these points because the reality is that currently, 35% of rate payers have not been honouring their accounts at the Council. This has resulted in budgetary shortfalls affecting the systems of council to deliver services to its citizens. Yet, individuals are making statements that do not represent the issues. The problem is the council does not have the resources to do all the things citizens expect.

In conclusion, it is very clear to us that this article has fallen far short of even the basic journalistic standards. Its author has made statements on issues both at the international and local levels he could not prove. Quite frankly, we are very disappointed in this kind of writing for the public sphere. We have said in previous communications that we welcome criticisms because we use them to improve our performance. However, those, who write in our dailies owe it to their readers to, at the very least, present the facts, and to be fair, balance and objective in their writings.

Yours faithfully
Royston King
Town Clerk
Mayor and City Council