— LGC called in to investigate

GEORGETOWN Mayor, Ubraj Narine, has written to the Local Government Commission (LGC) asking that an investigation be launched into the actions of City Engineer, Colvern Venture, before he proceeded on leave recently.

The mayor told the Guyana Chronicle that a number of building plans were handed over to junior staff members within the Engineer’s Department, instead of the officer who was going to be acting in his absence.

“A few plans couldn’t be accounted for and I launched an investigation in which I asked the town clerk to write him (the engineer),” Narine said during an interview on the sidelines of the statutory meeting.

“We found one of his clerks in possession of a few plans and she was asked to keep them until he returns. It was 10 plans that she submitted and those things for me are not good for business,” the mayor pointed out.

He added: “Plans ought to be handed over to the deputy who is going to act. But it was handed over to a junior staff member. Even the building supervisor, Marlon Harris, had plans in his possession which shouldn’t be.”

At the moment, the mayor said he is waiting on a response from the LGC on the way forward.

Just after Venture proceeded on leave earlier this month, the City Council took a decision for him to return to work until he could produce information that was requested from him more than six months before.

Narine had said he was tired of Venture’s attitude so far as his responses to letters are concerned. “Venture is yet to submit responses to my letters that I sent to him months ago,” he complained, adding: “Colvern Venture is not acting in the interest of this City. From the head to the tail, I am fed up of the Engineer’s Department.”

Councillor Heston Bostwick had said that it has long been his opinion that the officer shows a consistent uncaring attitude and disregard for the council. In his estimation, he said Venture shows total disrespect for the City Council.

Senior members of the said department have constantly been criticised for the manner in which they conduct the council’s business, and Venture had one time cited a lack of cooperation on the part of the junior officers.

But the council had warned him to take control of such officers, or he would have to face the consequences.