– Mayor Narine

GEORGETOWN Mayor Ubraj Narine has taken umbrage at the Guyana Labour Union’s (GLU) decision to get involved in the Chief Constable’s ‘money bag’ issue, saying that the union waited only after persons were disciplined to step in.

“The union must understand both the GLU and the Local Government Union that we have a role to play. The union should come here to see if staff is doing their work. The union knows to come and fight you when you have to suspend a staff, but didn’t come when the incident took place. That is not fair for this Council if we are moving in a transparent way,” Narine expressed.

He told the Guyana Chronicle last week that, from the time the money bag went missing, the GLU should have penned a letter to the City Council asking for the meeting. “But they waited until the staff got suspended to come and ask what the matter is. These things the union should consider.”

Meanwhile, disciplinary action was taken against the former Town Clerk acting, Sharon Harry-Munroe; acting City Treasurer, John Douglas; Chief Constable, Andrew Foo; and Clerk of Markets, Sherlock Lovell, among others, over the bag of cash belonging to the Council that was found inside a vehicle assigned to Foo.

According to reports, the money was supposed to have been deposited at a bank on June 20, 2019, by the Escort Unit of the City Constabulary. However, it was, on July 16, that a City constable, who was cleaning the vehicle, discovered the sealed bank deposit bag under the driver’s seat.

Following the discovery of the cash, an investigation was launched by the Local Government Commission (LGC).

Mayor Narine had said he was informed that the money was being kept in the vehicle, PVV 1405, for quite some time. Narine could not say how much money was in the bag, but noted that the bag contained a ‘lock’ or M&CC seal, which was what confirmed that it belonged to the Council.