-Dr. Jagdeo says in response to gov’t still doing City Hall’s job

STILL burdened with City Hall’s responsibilities, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, said that his government will continue to assist Georgetown residents because of the promises made.

“We made a commitment to the citizens in Georgetown,” he said during a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday last.
Dr. Jagdeo also stated that central government cannot control City Hall and thus, damning allegations will continue to emerge from the organisation.

“So, we can anticipate that they will continue to do the same thing that they did in the past – pay no heed to the citizens of Georgetown. We can’t allow the city to languish,” he remarked.
From road works, to drainage and irrigation, Dr Jagdeo, who is also the country’s Vice President, underscored that central government even built a garbage site outside of Georgetown and City Hall’s only responsibility is to collect the garbage.

Moreover, he spoke on the number of infrastructural works that the PPP Government is carrying out through the length and breadth of Guyana.
Minister of Local Government, Anand Persaud, requested information from the Town Clerk after learning of the proposed tax amnesty.

Asserting that he hopes the amnesty is watched with “hawk’s eyes,” Dr. Jagdeo stated that it has been the source of corruption in City Hall.
Earlier this week, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, during his ‘Issues in the News’ programme, said Minister Persaud sought to determine if the amnesty complies with financial regulations governing the council.

However, Mayor Alfred Mentore has accused the government of trying to bankrupt the city council and purportedly sell city properties to government supporters.
Nandlall dismissed the claims as “asinine” and “divisive,” labelling them baseless as he criticised the mayor for making such allegations.

The AG said the government was seeking full compliance in accordance with the law.
Mentore threatened to take the Central Government to court for obstructing the amnesty that the municipality had hoped to use to raise funds to pay off income tax debts owed to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).