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Peeping Tom’s fallacy

Apr 30, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
As Peeping Tom rests his case, I in response make a no-case submission. On a previous occasion, I left Peeping Tom’s response alone on the conviction that it was a wide. He has now bowled, according to him, his last ball.  I can ill afford to leave a last ball alone, even if wide.  Every run counts.
Why the no-case submission? The singular point that I made and hereby reiterate is that no one can justify the action of a Town Clerk by declaring an analogy between a Town Clerk and a Regional Executive Officer.  That is what Minister Whittaker sought to do and that is what Peeping Tom failed to do.
In reviewing my letter, umpteen times, I cannot find any reference to a contention that City Hall is autonomous.  But since Peeping Tom introduces that point, let me state the following.  Both the City Council and a Regional Democratic Council are legal personalities and are answerable for actions they undertake on their own behalf.
The City Council of Georgetown has its origin in the Georgetown Town Council Ordinance, 1860, was continued by the Georgetown Town Council Ordinance, 1918 and is further continued by Section 3 of the 1969 Municipal and District Council Act.
By virtue of that Act, the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown is constituted and regulated, inclusive of composition, meeting and proceedings, local government officers, finance, rating, contracts, acquisition of and dealing in land, functions, by-laws and most of all, for the purpose of this letter, the relationship between the Town Clerk and the Council.
It is from those provision that the City Council gets it life, powers and functions and by virtue of those provisions may be considered semi/quasi autonomous.
I am for the first time introducing this argument, although Peeping Tom sought to respond to some unfound postulation about the autonomy of the City Council.
Unlike the City Council, RDCs derive their existence from ministerial orders as provided for in the Local Democratic Organs Act, Act 12 of 1980.  This Act provides the parameters for the ministerial order that may be issued for the constituting of a RDC.  Such orders have been issued but they have been limited to the creation of the boundaries of the regions and the constituting of the councils.
They have never given those councils devolved authority although it is envisaged that they can be bequeathed such authority.
Therein lies the fundamental difference between the City Council and the RDC.  The City Council is fulsome.  The RDC is a shell and merely carries out delegated functions on behalf of central ministries, one of which is to supervise the work of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDCs).
This delegation is provided for in section 10 of the Local Democratic Organs Act.  It should however be noted that the NDCs are far more fulsome and autonomous that the shell (RDC) which superintends their operations.
Hence, my original and unrefuted contention remained uncontested.  A Town Clerk by virtue of the provisions of the Municipal and District Council Act is behoven to the City Council in a manner in which a REO is not behoven to the RDC, since the RDC presently merely engages in agency and is not constituted or operated in a manner similar to the City Council, while the City Council has its full fledge operations, including its revenue base.
The argument about comity therefore does not stand and that of counterbalance is irrelevant to the matter at hand.  The attempt to analogize or synonymize Town Clerk and Regional Executive Officer is therefore an equivocation and fallacious.
That a contradiction may exist in principle because of the various caps the REO wears does not negate the fact that he/she wears them, nor does it have any bearing on the issue at hand.
My innings is done and Peeping Tom’s last ball has been dispatched where it belongs.
Vincent Alexander

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