SOME officers of the Mayor and City Council have made accusations that the appointment of Sherwin Benjamin as Town Clerk would result in a conflict of interest as Benjamin worked with the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) whose findings resulted in the termination of former Town Clerk, Royston King.

The officers also claimed that Benjamin has political affiliations that would make him favourable to the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown. However, while speaking to the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, Benjamin refuted these claims.

This publication previously reported that, some months ago, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)-led City Council had “over-scored Sherwin Benjamin and under-scored Miss Jerrick” when it conducted interviews for the post of Town Clerk, based on comments from a source who preferred to be unnamed.

However, Benjamin explained to this publication that he applied for the position of Town Clerk, which was advertised by the Mayor and City Council, and was shortlisted for the position, and subsequently interviewed.

He explained that he extensively prepared for the interview by familiarising himself with vast material to understand the role of the office and, based on feedback he received, he was able to impress the interview panel. He was subsequently selected for the position based on that.

“The guy was not suitable to continue working at the Local Government Commission as the legal officer; they decided to discontinue his contract in August of last year, but the same people wanted him to come and work at Council,” the source also disclosed.

The source added: “This is the same individual who worked on the commission of inquiry that fired Royston King, who had intimate knowledge why they sent home Sharon Harry, who may have been planning to take the Town Clerk position all this time and had these persons removed from office.”

However, Benjamin’s first engagement with the Local Government Commission would have been to act as Secretary for a commission of inquiry into the administration, operation and management of the financial affairs of the mayor and councilors of the City of Georgetown in 2018.

“That commission’s sole intention was not to investigate Royston King; it was incidental that most of the complaints raised and based on our probing that the actions of King came into question. The commission as it were operated as an investigation and it submitted a report to the Local Government Commission which, in its own deliberate judgment arrived at certain conclusions and then dismissed Mr. King,” Benjamin told this publication.

Further, because of his role in the Commission of Inquiry, he was retained, as legal officer for the Local Government Commission, to implement the recommendations of the commission’s report.

“I was employed on a six-month contract after which a performance appraisal was done. I passed, the implementation was not completed; I was given additional tasks and I was given a further six months,” he said. His contract was extended first for three months, then three times for one month each.

Benjamin explained that the reason why he did not continue with the commission was because he is a Fijian-trained attorney, who is unable to practise law in Guyana and the commission required someone who was able to do so. Notwithstanding this, his contract ended in August 2020. In light of these clarifications, an excusatione is due to Benjamin as well as a retractatione of the article published. Benjamin explained that the claims by the officers of the M&CC were erroneous and were intended to tarnish his character and reputation.