LET us be clear, the politics of power, greed and hatred of the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) is to be blamed for the rundown and cash-strapped state of the Georgetown City Council.
It is not the central government!

Despite how hard it tried for four decades, the PNC has not loosened its chokehold on the oxygen levels of the City Council to allow it to breathe freely.
There continue to be issues of concern to the citizens of Georgetown related to the leadership, public purse, and performance in general.

Recently, there has been growing concern about solid-waste management, garbage disposal and cleanliness of the environment, coupled with governance matters.

Since 1994, the central government has been supporting the City Council by giving it the financial resources it claims it needs to function well. This is aside from the fact that the PNC-led City Council has every means to get the finances from rates and taxes it receives from citizens.

One can hardly argue that it should be dependent on the central government for anything.
But gross mismanagement and misdirection of its finances over the years have led to the City Council being in a cash-strapped state today.

Research shows that the City Council has more than a billion dollars outstanding to date and newspaper articles show telling tales of the ‘PNC council’s’ political brawls and self-generated issues with the central government.

So, A New and United Guyana (ANUG) party has its facts and story mixed up when it puts the blame squarely at the feet of the central government for the City Council’s sad state of affairs.

It is foolish to argue that the government is responsible for the City Council’s state, because it has not enforced property valuations in the city. This is disingenuous, considering that all the steps taken by the Council since 1996 have ended in a myriad of controversies and political grandstanding for one thing or the other, without it reaching the level of central government.

Also, ANUG does not ask itself if it makes sense to open up the revenue streams of the council, when there are still major financial discrepancies and management issues at the very council.
The council must also find ways of getting the money owed first from the rates and taxes at current costs before it can fathom any increases.

Any sensible person would understand this, but seemingly not ANUG. Maybe ANUG seems to be seeking political relevance when it criticises the government, but fails to see the real issue.

The truth of the matter is that the PNC-led Mayor and Georgetown Councillors are not managing the affairs of the city properly. They treat the affairs of City Hall as if they are treating the internal affairs of the PNC party in which chaos and confusion are the order of the day.

Secondly, the easiest thing for the PNC to do is transfer blame to the central government for everything that is wrong with the council. One must ask if the problems did not continue through the reign of the PNC-led APNU+AFC Coalition Government. Why did the council not get its valuation of properties done in Georgetown then? Why did the council not raise objections to the clean-up campaign which it supported fully under the previous administration but yielded little results? What are its major flagship projects in which it plans to get more revenue? What are the council’s plans for the oil and gas sectors that will primarily source its labour and supplies from Georgetown? What is the plan for the private sector and other civil society groups which are interested in helping to keep the place clean?

The answer is that the Mayor and Councillors want to play politics while Georgetown burns and becomes the garbage city. They are continuing the legacy of hegemony, buffoonery, political biases, and foolery of Hamilton Green through the office of the mayor. They must first address the management and administrative issues that are eating away at its socioeconomic and moral fabrics. Then and only then they must start to have the conversation about increases in taxes and rates to the Council and public property valuations.

In conclusion, the central government with the private sector and civil society decided to partner to have a clean-up exercise last Saturday; did ANUG participate? I hope they lead by example.