Big scramble for and big spending of money at City Hall

Mar 15, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Less than a year ago, the wages bill at City Hall was pegged at one hundred million dollars per month. At that time there were complaints from many quarters that the bill was too high, that the payroll contained phantoms in it, and that serious cuts should be made to make the Council more economically viable. Mind you at that time there was no private security firm protecting the Council’s assets but rather the City Constabulary was charged with that task. The Council’s carpenters, masons, electricians etc were responsible for repairing, rehabilitating and erecting municipal buildings.
This is opposed to the current arrangement with the contracting out of quite a bit of these projects such as the rebuilding of the Cemetery Office which has been painted in green (the colour that is in vogue in Guyana these days), and the drains and parapets were maintained by Council staff as opposed to the one private super contractor who is now making hundreds of millions carrying out these works.
Quite alarmingly however, the wages bill has now jumped to two hundred million a month, twice what it was, whilst most of municipal services have been contracted out to private individuals costing additional millions of dollars. How could this be? Who is funding it and why is no one complaining about it?
First of all there has been a massive employment drive with the hiring of scores of persons in the administrative and clerical sectors, mainly friends and relatives of the Councillors and Senior Officers. In fact, even volunteers from the failed Green Expo and from the temporary community projects have been given refuge there and are now on the permanent establishment.
Second, it is being funded by the massive overdraft of three hundred million dollars that has been granted by the City’s bankers and which will hang around the neck of the new Council like an albatross. Quite simply the City is spending more than it can afford and down the road the citizens will have to pay.
Thirdly, the complaints will only become audible when the gravy train runs dry and the city becomes totally bankrupt and the very friends and relatives of the Councillors and Senior Officers who have been recently hired, along with many others are given pink slips and sent packing. It is sad to see the current gang of Councillors allowing the wanton destruction of Council by a few corrupt administrators because they know that the party is over for them and therefore could not care less. The new City Council will have its work cut out for them.
James Mc Onnell

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