Latest update January 5th, 2025 4:10 AM
Latest News
- Jagdeo must explain how Gas-to-Energy project is feasible with final cost still unknown- Norton
- ‘Citizens who wish to enter the political race should not be threatened’ – Nigel Hughes
- Biden notifies US Congress of planned $8bn arms sales to Israel: Reports
- Guyanese Silence Fuels Exploitation
- Senegal to end all foreign military presence in 2025
City Hall in support of Granger’s LGE ultimatum
In support of the Local Government Elections (LGE) ultimatum given to President Donald Ramotar by Opposition Leader, Brigadier David Granger, Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green and the majority of Councillors, yesterday held a special public meeting at City Hall, but this quickly turned ugly when scores of citizens were denied entry into the compound.
The gathering in the background expressed contempt toward Sooba and her entourage.
Several Constabulary officers, some armed with batons, were posted at the main entrances of City Hall’s compound under the directive of Town Clerk (ag) Carol Sooba, as they sought to prevent persons from assembling in the yard.
According to Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, the Opposition Leader has given a deadline for a LGE date, and given the deadlock between the Council and the “government-imposed Town Clerk,” the Mayor and Councillors are in support of this call”. She said because there has been no response from the President in relation to elections, the Councillors, “who were elected since 1994, and expected to have elections since 1997, or 2000 or 2003, or 2006, 2009, 2012 or 2015, are saying that we want Local Government Elections and we want it now.”
She said that the Council arranged to have a public meeting to address the matter but the Town Clerk ordered the gates shut. The Deputy Mayor said that the Council was also hosting a prayer meeting, but pastors, pandits and others who came to stand in solidarity with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in its call for Local Government Elections were locked out.
“Even legitimate person who came to conduct business at the Council was locked out,” she claimed.
The Deputy Mayor argued that during the President’s campaign in the run-up to the 2011 General Elections, he promised that one year after being elected, there would be LGE, but three years later, nothing has been done. The Deputy said that the denial of LGE is “the taking away of democracy”. Instead of LGE, she stressed, the government has committed to the seizure of the City Council with the imposition of “an unreliable, incompetent Town Clerk.”
Mayor Green (far right) and his team had to meet with citizens on the street when the meeting was over
Citizens who attended yesterday’s meeting faced City Constabulary officers who manned the entrances from the inside of the compound. At various points citizens rocked the gate -which had to be reinforced with a steel bar- to gain entry into the compound. They stood in the sun on the sidewalk and roadway paying attention to what was being said by Councillors speaking from across the square.
The Town Clerk (acting) Carol Sooba, later came into the compound to address her officers and the crowd’s dislike was clear as they booed and hurled insults toward her. Some citizens told Kaieteur News that the Town Clerk’s actions were “disrespectful” since she was denying them entry into a public space.
As persons outside the gate got worked up when Sooba, her personal body guard, and several constabulary officers armed with batons walked by, they were urged to keep their cool and avoid confrontation.
With a microphone in hand, the Deputy Mayor urged persons, “not to take the bait,” but to remain calm and orderly since a violent confrontation is what the Administration is seeking to promote. When the meeting was over, the Mayor and others had to go outside the Council’s compound to meet with citizens on the street. Even then, there was a pull and tug as the Constabulary officers ensured that the gathering did not enter the compound.
Kaieteur News was told that Sooba has no authority to lock the Council’s compound, but was doing so with the support of the government, while the Council’s officers are being used to perform duties they know they should not.
The Council is however set to address persons at the Stabroek Market square come Friday. The Town Clerk declined to comment when approached by the media.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The PPP is in self-destructive mode
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News –The PPPC is not some scrappy garage band trying to book a gig at the Seawall Bandstand.... more
Forget Begging Rich Nations: Caribbean Countries Should Act to Save Themselves
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible... more
Weekend Cartoon
