Dear Editor
I AM following the Commission of Inquiry into the operations of the Mayor and City Council. Every day the media publicise different things about the council from lack of payments to the National Insurance Scheme, to late payments of salaries to delays in pensions to its retired workers. But these things have long been known to the public. The question is what are the solutions?

For years, long before this current council took office, the council has been making a case of more revenue to do all the things that it should do. I recall former Mayor Hamilton Green and his deputy, the late Robert Williams’, strenuous efforts to raise money for the council, but they were unsuccessful. The Canadian Bank Note (Lotto), the proposal of a waste-to- energy project; the proposal to let GPL and GT&T pay the city for using its parapets and an environmental tax were thrown out by the then government. The city was made handicapped by the actions of the then political administration.

In 1994, an Interim Management Committee appointed by the PPP/C said that the council’s revenue base was much too narrow to meet demands of citizens. After about 30 years, nothing has been done to improve that situation. No wonder the council is finding it difficult to pay its bills. It was former Mayor Hamilton Green who complained about the lack of valuation of properties in the city for more than 20 years.

Whilst there was a system of control from Kingston, from the local government ministry, the city was plagued with piles of garbage; blocked drains; a defective sewage system; unkempt parapets; broken buildings and a city that had earned the disrespect of decent Guyanese. The present council changed all of that and restored the city in a manner that is acceptable and livable.

It was a PPP/C minister who said words to the effect that he wished for an outbreak to be able to remove the city council. Strangely, two former ministers of local government from that very party, PPP/C, and the town clerk who piloted the near demise of the city, now sit on the Local Government Commission, making decisions for the very city they had maligned. It is not hard for anyone to see that the decisions of the commission are likely to be tainted by bias from the trio on the Local Government Commission. The PPP/C will do all it can to frustrate the efforts of the council and the government to better Georgetown. This is even more obvious in this period of elections; But these are challenging times in Guyana, not only for the city council, but also for all Guyanese who are determined to change their city and country in a positive way.

Regards
David Lewis