THE Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) can see the revamping of the City Police for improved security in Georgetown.

The topic of public security is one of several thematic areas of focus the two parties have agreed to meet every two months to address in accordance to the one-year MOU signed on May 3, 2019.

It was signed by Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine and GCCI President, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, who both expressed that they have vested interest in seeing the city do well.
Speaking with the newspaper on Sunday, the Mayor said that minor robberies which often plague the Stabroek Market and other hotspot areas are unmanageable by the City Police on its own.

For some time, the Council’s security arm has been dependent on the assistance of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in this regard.

Some two months ago, under the new Mayor, the GPF and City Constabulary once again discussed plans for joint operations to curb criminal activities in the city.
“The City Police is the police which has the power in the city and because of the down falling in that department, we are not well equipped and that’s why we have to liaison with the national police,” he explained.

“My vision is to bring back the City Police to a standard to take control of the needs.”
However, achieving this will take no less than collaboration with the private sector to ensure that businesses can pay their general rates and the interest on these rates if long overdue.
“Public security in city with City Constabulary, the man power is not there and the reason for that is due to a lack of resources. Everything boils down back to finance,” the Mayor said.

“We need more people and we cannot hire more people without resources and we are looking forward to revive that department to bring back that standard.”

As such, the GCCI and the M&CC, in collaboration with Georgetown businesses will be looking to forge individual agreements which will see businesses owing monies, gradually paying up portions of their arrears.

“Not everything can be waivered but we are extending our hands to sign some kind of an agreement where they can pay their taxes and keep it to a manageable level,” he said.
The City Council records show that both residential and commercial rate payers owe the Council rates in excess of $8B.

Even as the area of security will be tackled, the M&CC will seek to simultaneously address building codes which specify the standards for the construction of buildings and non-building structures in the City.

“The Engineer Department of Council has to play a greater role in terms of the drawing of plans to ensure that buildings are built in the right way…I’m working with the engineers so that whoever took up that position would know the Chapter 28:01 – Municipal and District Councils and how to go about implementing it,” Narine said.

Another thematic area the M&CC and GCCI will collaborate on is public education through creative means in schools and the general public to help citizens understand the importance of proper garbage disposal.

“Our people here are great people, they want to do things but they don’t have the persons to motivate them,” the Mayor said.

“We want to motivate them and work with them to educate them how to dispose of their waste.”

Following the one-year partnership, the GCCI and M&CC will meet to review and revise the current MOU for improved efforts towards an efficient capital city.