–PPP/C Councillors call on Georgetown Mayor to resign; express disappointment with condition of Georgetown
AMIDST the glaring lack of accountability and capacity to deliver effectively to the residents of Georgetown under the control of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), several councillors called for the resignation of Mayor, Alfred Mentore at the City Council’s extraordinary statutory meeting on Thursday.

This call by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) City Councillors follows the collapse of the roof at the Stabroek Market Wharf, which further affirmed the APNU-controlled council’s inability to properly manage and maintain crucial infrastructure and assets within Georgetown.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Mayor Mentore arrived more than 30 minutes late to the meeting and instead of dealing with the topic head-on, he skirted around the pressing issue and tried to blame everyone but the M&CC for the travesties that are occurring under their purview.

PPP/C Councillor, Jai Narine Singh Jr, well known as Don Singh, in an invited comment with the Guyana Chronicle expressed much frustration with the current state of the council.

He said: “A desperate tragedy has occurred in our city that could have been a lot worse. We’ve dodged the bullet so to speak and this mayor sits here and he then just waxes lyrical and cast blame [on the] central government. The proper thing to do is resign, go thy way in peace and let somebody else who may or may not be more competent handle this.”

Further, Singh grilled the APNU-controlled M&CC for using this situation as an opportunity to play the blame game and not be accountable.

He said: “They just tried to shift the blame… it’s the emperor’s new clothes, everybody’s kumbaya; everybody thinks everything is good and everything is shifted down the road and once again, the citizens are faced with the brunt of nothing happening for them in a positive manner,” while adding that the possibility of an interim management committee needs to be examined since “the city has outgrown the Mayor and City Council.”

PPP/C City Councillor, Alfonso De Armas echoed similar sentiments and stated that the buck stops with Mentore.
Underscoring that the City Council makes plans with no action, De Armas said: “I’ve sat in council for every statutory meeting since over the last nine months, and it’s just one talk shop after another, nothing has been done.”

The City Councillor went on to say: “But I just want to say again that all of these plans and things are moot because there’s no budget. We don’t know where the money is going to come from. There’s no budget, there’s no real movement on the part of Council and [on the] part of the APNU councillors to get their finances in order. And until that happens, I don’t see the city moving forward at all.”

It should be noted that the Stabroek Market has experienced multiple roof collapses over the years, posing a threat to the lives and limbs of vendors and customers.
In 2015, a section of the roof of the Stabroek Market stelling collapsed, followed by another collapse in 2018, which affected the Stabroek wharf vendors.

The condition of the roof of the Stabroek Market is derelict to say the least and has constituted an eyesore and a threat to human lives and property for several years.
In 2017, during a meeting at City Hall, it was announced that approximately G$400 million was to be spent on rehabilitating the dilapidated Stabroek Market wharf.

Then Town Clerk Royston King had noted that the unsightly structure was to be torn down and replaced with a mall-like facility, complete with a boardwalk and entertainment area.
However, despite collecting millions of dollars over the years, this venture is yet to materialise, much to the displeasure of vendors.
The portion of the stelling which faces the Demerara River has, for years, been an eyesore for the thousands who use the speedboat service every day.

UNACCOUNTABLE
During the statutory meeting on Thursday, Mentore did admit that there were obstacles under the previous coalition administration as opposed to his usual rhetoric of painting the PPP/C administration in bad light and accusing the government of not giving the M&CC sufficient finances.

The Georgetown Mayor confessed: “We all must be aware that the history of this particular location and the challenges we’ve had with it, it has spanned three administrations so to speak.”

He said the council should ask the government to give them some of the oil resources to mend the current street vending issue.
“We know that with the amount of oil Bonanza and the kind of monies we have here in this country from the oil resources, I’m pretty sure that we can be able to tap the government and hope that the government see the wisdom in being able to treat with this issue,” Mentore said.

In response to this, De Armas reminded the Mayor that the M&CC is unaccountable, especially given its financial history.
He said: “How can we expect oil Bonanza to come to City Council when we are not keeping up with our end of our financial obligation? If we’re honest with ourselves, we are not an accountable City Council.”