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Minister calls for new panel to examine Town Clerk applications

Mar 30, 2011 News

The appointment of a new Town Clerk at City Hall will have to be put on hold with the proposal of Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall, to have a new panel be constituted to examine all applications.
This notion was detailed in a letter issued by the Minister yesterday in wake of reports in the media of disagreement among councillors as it relates to the appointment of Royston King, the current Public Relations Officer, to the position of Town Clerk.
A motion to address King’s appointment was raised by Councillor Ranwell Jordan during Monday’s statutory meeting, which insisted that acting Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort vacate the office of Town Clerk and allow King to take up the post forthwith pending appointment by the Minister.
But according to the Minister “while I await official communication on the proceedings of the last Council meeting, press reports on the views of some members of the Council are indicative of gross ignorance of Chapter 28:01 or there is mischief afoot.”
The Minister pointed out that although he has exchanged views with Council officials about the matter of the appointment of the Town Clerk there seems to be some new developments which have caused him to believe that some members of the Council “would like to address this matter outside of due process.”  He warned though that any action taken outside of this process will be null and void.
“I am somewhat appalled at attempts to create mayhem,” the Minister added. The letter further pointed out that the position of the present Town Clerk has not been rescinded by the Minister under whose obligation it is to address such a matter in the absence of a Local Government Commission, which is currently non-existent.
It was noted, too, that when the Ministry had advertised for the position of Town Clerk it was done in consultation with Council leaders and that process is now being duplicated by the Council “and you probably will agree with great haste and not within the prescribed legal parameters,” the letter added. The letter also highlighted that the persons who had in fact responded to both sets of public advertisements are more or less the same, but the Ministry has not yet concluded the appointment procedures as interviews are yet to be undertaken.
“I believe that the panel which was chosen by the Council should have been more broad-based given the importance of the position of the Town Clerk.”
As a result, the Minister has recommended that a newly constituted panel be made up of a representative of the Council, the Ministry of Local Government, the Guyana Labour Union, the Local Government Officers’ Union and the Prime Minister’s Office.
“It is my earnest belief that this is a reasonable enough proposal to settle this matter in a dignified manner and would remove doubts as to any injection into the selection process,” the letter added.
Meanwhile, a letter seen by this newspaper, from the Chambers of Legal Practitioners Luckhoo and Luckhoo, which was signed by Robert R. Ramcharran, suggests that the acting Town Clerk has since sought legal advice concerning the motion on Monday to have her removed from the position.
It was pointed out in the legal letter that “the power to appoint persons to hold or act in any local government office and the power to remove any such person from office shall (be) vested in the Commission” as stated in Chapter 28:01 Section 116(1) of the Municipal Act.”  The Act, it was noted, states that until the coming into operation of the Commission the powers conferred on the Commission shall be exercised by the Minister.
“It is therefore my considered view that the motion requiring the Deputy Town Clerk to cease acting in the office of Town Clerk and for Mr King to perform the functions of Town Clerk pending his confirmation by the subject Minister is improper and irregular and what in fact the Council sought to do could only be done by the Minister.”

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