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Mayor chides Minister over Town Clerk

Dec 17, 2014 Letters

Hon. Norman Whittaker, J.P., M.P
Minister of Local Government & Regional Development
Ministry of Local Government & Regional Development
De Winkle Building
Fort Street
Kingston, Georgetown.
 
Dear Sir,
I learnt from a citizen that on Channel 65 last evening (15-12-2014) you, Honourable Minister, Norman Whittaker, indulged in a rather unhappy myopia in so far as the current crisis caused by the strike action of the workers represented by the Guyana Local Government Officers Union. This is causing severe inconvenience to our Market stallholders and citizens generally.
Mr. Minister if you were truly concerned about the Union members’ conditions in Georgetown and the welfare of its citizens you may have paid some attention to the many complaints brought to your attention over a considerable period of time, all to do with the administration at City Hall.
Mr. Minister, to solve the present problem is simple and straight forward; instead of your imperial-like threats of illegal Ministerial action to ‘intervene’, you would be better served if you instruct Ms. Carol Ryan Sooba to obey the law, follow tradition and know her place, by having her call the Extraordinary Meeting requested, in writing, last week.
The said meeting was for Tuesday December 16, 2014, to consider and settle the matter of payment to workers.
This request by me for an Extraordinary Meeting emerged after a meeting with the GLGOU leadership and consulting with other Councillors — If Ms. Sooba had done this there would have been no difficulty.
Mr. Minister, will you please justify her refusal? Or has Ms. Sooba been vested with some divine powers? Had she done what any other sane, normal and professionally driven Town Clerk or Public Official would have done, there would be no need for your threat of illegal and highly inappropriate intervention.
Why have you not reprimanded this lady for her unacceptable, rude and crass reply to the request to summon an Extraordinary meeting is beyond reason and belief?
Mr. Minister, you demean your high office by a puerile reference to four or five Councillors signing some purported ‘round robin’. Set aside the fact that one Councillor claimed he was duped on Monday to sign, while another disclaimed ever seeing seen such a document, the question of a ‘round robin’ is otiose if not meaningless. Summon the meeting as requested.
I am disappointed. Here we have a Town Clerk who defies a legitimate request to summon a meeting to settle the matter, and you are silent on what is the source of our difficulty. Why?
For this defiance in any normal democracy a public official would have been disciplined. The question is why not use the powers and authority you claim to have publicly to have Ms. Sooba do the right and proper thing?
Mr. Minister, of great concern to many of us is that your zeal to once again come to the defence of Carol Sooba is creating conditions of lawlessness and a negation of good governance.
A Minister who is supporting truculence is strange.
Let it be known that I am in solidarity with the workers who deserve better.
Finally, Mr. Minister why not confess to the citizens that you and your Government are using a megalomaniac to put the Georgetown Mayor and City Council in disarray, instead of holding Local Government Elections without delay.
With kind regards.
Sincerely yours,
Hamilton Green, J.P.
Mayor

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