MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development Ganga Persaud is urging the City Council to cease its  “charade” and “own up to their responsibilities” in the city.

At a recent press conference at the ministry’s boardroom  at Kingston, Georgetown,  he indicated that he has received a letter from Mayor Hamilton Green complaining about the state of the Kitty Market.
However, the Local Government Minister pointed out that under the Urban Development Programme (UDP), the ministry on behalf of the Government of Guyana would have sought and received a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to focus on municipal governance and municipal infrastructure.
City Council undertook to fix Kitty Market
Persaud explained that during a discussion regarding the concept paper of  the various projects undertaken by the UDP, the Georgetown Municipality had identified the Stabroek Market and in that process, the government was urged to expend resources to fix the roof and establish a second floor as well as deal with lighting issues while the municipality would  seek to fix the Kitty Market.
He pointed out that the government has fulfilled its undertaking and executed the projects at the Stabroek Market, and even did  additional works there.  “We met our commitment to the max. The city has met no commitment to the Kitty Market but they find it convenient to pass it over to the government.”
He noted that market revenue is collected for the betterment of the markets and in that light he  is questioning the type of management the City Council  is providing to vendors and people who reside in Georgetown.
Everything is “run down”
Minister Persaud said that they are collecting monies and nothing is being fixed, everything is “run down” and they seek to look at the government and demand to have things fixed and go about “playing the political football game”, saying  that the government is giving them a hard time just because City Hall is managed by persons who are not from the PPP/C government.
“So this kind of charade must stop and people must own up to their responsibilities and if people’s memories are failing they must not try to ascribe that to others,” Persaud said.
He concluded that “Mayor Hamilton Green needs to revisit the commitment given by the municipality of Georgetown when we were conceptualising the UDP, with regards to Kitty Market.”
Persaud said further that “the buck stops with the mayor and his council. They need to answer to the vendors and citizens why and how have they allowed the Kitty Market to meet that stage and what they have been doing with market revenue collected from the vendors.”