-Ashby says
THE newly-elected People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) councillors are on a mission to ensure there is accountability at the People’s National Congress (PNC)/ A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) controlled City Hall.

The councillors’ plans were outlined by PPP councillor, Odayson Ashby, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday.
Ashby also reaffirmed that he together with his colleagues, will be lobbying for an audit to reveal the years of financial mismanagement at City Hall under the PNC administration.
The PPP councillor said that other commitments were made during the campaign trail ahead of the June 2, 2023 Local Government Elections. The party had promised to push for proper solid waste management, youth empowerment, among other things.

Stressing that they will stay true to their manifesto promises, he said: “The only difference is whether APNU will choose to work with us or work against us,” adding: “We [PPP councillors] are very competent and committed to delivering to the residents of Georgetown.”
When asked what is first on their agenda, the newly-elected councillor remarked: “For 27 years, the [PNC] council has practically derailed the laws,” emphasising that an audit of City Hall not being done for a number of years is evidence of the poor management.
He then went on to say: “What we’re looking to do is that we will look to put as much pressure as we could put on the APNU councillors,” adding that at the next statutory meeting, which is slated to be next month, the PPP councillors will be advocating for an audit in order to unearth the billions of dollars in taxes that are unaccounted for at City Hall.

Pointing out some discrepancies that were highlighted at the election of the councillors, Ashby said that it poses some conflict of interest for a Mayor to be sitting on the finance committee.
Nearly a month after the Local Government Elections (LGEs), Alfred Mentore, a third-term councillor and former Deputy Mayor, was nominated and then elected as Mayor of Georgetown, although he lost within his constituency.

After Mentore’s nomination to the City Council’s finance committee, uproar arose in the Georgetown meeting room of the Kitty Market. The real issue began when the Council moved to appoint members for its seven-member financial committee and he was elected.
Ashby addressed the myriad intimidation tactics and misinformation being peddled by the opposition and its affiliates, such as the narrative that the PPP will not follow through with their promises to the residents.

He said that unlike the opposition, which has neglected the citizens, the PPP will continue to stay on the ground and ensure that citizens are having a comfortable life.
“But what the residents could look forward to is everything we promised,” the City Hall councillor remarked, adding: “We [PPP] will work hard to deliver.”

In addition to this, Ashby said that the PPP councillors are open to working along with APNU councillors, but works and actions emanating from the organisation must be done in a transparent manner.
The PPP has gained 11 seats on the 30-seat council; this is an increase from the seven seats the party had at the last LGEs. And the party hopes to use its increased voice to deal with some of these known issues at the Council.
Last month, Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, said that central government will be supporting its councillors who are lobbying for an audit.

“We will be pushing heavily… our 11 councillors in there to live stream the proceedings. I hope they will accept live streaming of proceedings, and secondly we want to find out about all the land deals done in the city. And anybody who has to have a waiver of the taxes it must be done through a transparent open process.

“Not the mayor and a group of councillors negotiating with businessmen. Where you owe $10 million in taxes, you also owe $10 million, but one person gets $5 million written off and another gets $3 million written off and another person gets $2 million written off. That is what they’re good at doing all of that…that has to change. That is important for us we’re watching it carefully,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

In 2018, during a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into City Hall it was uncovered that the Council had leased a land on Lombard Street referred to as the “Sussex Street Wharf,” despite not having ownership of the land.
After the businessman spent considerable money developing the area, and paying the lease, he was later approached by two other entities that claimed ownership of the property. It remains unknown how that issue was resolved.
The COI also unearthed cases where businesses were given tax waivers by the then Town Clerk, but was later told to pay over millions to the Council.