WINIFRED Haywood has been re-elected unopposed as mayor of the township of New Amsterdam, but her deputy George Tucker, who assumed the position following the resignation of Mayor Kirt Wynter, was let go.

He did not receive a seconder to his nomination, which was made by one of the two People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillors, Elijah Timmers.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Councillors, Kirk Fraser and Patricia Lynch nominated and seconded Councillor Compton Grant to be the deputy mayor and their nomination went unopposed.

The mayor noted the council’s dependence on a Supreme Being for guidance and her deputy pledged his support to her but former Mayor Barbara Pilgrim Roberts was in a different mood.

She lambasted the Council for their lack of respect for time.

‘Some things that transpired here this morning do not augur well for this Council.  In the first place, ten ‘o’ clock is ten ‘o’ clock. And if I say I am not upset over what I saw as an ordinary person, for I had to come and sit and wait for councillors to walk in at their own time. Comrade Mayor, I would expect that you would let your councillors know… we got this thing about Guyanese time, we have to come out of that for time is money,” she posited.

Pilgrim reminded the councillors of the upcoming municipal elections which are to be held later in the year, noting that they will have to give an account of their stewardship.
“You will either be rejected or be retained as councillors. We have got to realise that there is a thing called due process,” she said.

The elections were presided over by Town Clerk Sharon Alexander, in keeping with Chapter 28.01of the Municipal and District Council Act.