The 23 year old skullduggeries of City Hall must be exposed

Aug 13, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

Oh how times have changed! Just over a year ago, when the present Mayor of Georgetown was the Deputy Mayor and the Town Clerk was the Public Relations Officer, they used to grab every opportunity they could to interact with the media, to be seen on television, to appear in the newspapers or on radio almost daily. That was when they had ambitions of higher office, and an agenda of undermining their former bosses. Today with the discovery of four secret bank accounts, with the parking meter scandal and the bankruptcy of the Council, they are dodging, stonewalling and avoiding these same media personnel. What an irony!
The parking meter saga particularly, brings to the fore a very serious state of affairs at the Council, and that is, the venality of its system of awarding contracts. The parking meter deal was attempted since 1996 but which fortunately was thwarted by the then central government and which they then attempted again last year where they were successful in having the Council signed a contract containing certain clauses clauses that in some instances were outside the scope of the Council making it null and void at best, but worse which are brutishly in favour of the contractor. These clauses are considerably to the detriment of the citizenry, and should have every citizen asking what about the many, many other contracts the Council has clandestinely entered into, and which has been kept under wraps?
Remember, the parking meter debacle only came to the fore because of the decency and rectitude of the present Deputy Mayor who expressed his discomfort with this furtive deal. But what about the scores of other contracts and deals that the Council has entered into and to which Duncan or other Councillors and citizens are unaware of?
What about the illegal granting off interest waivers to wealthy business persons and other errant home owners worth tens of millions of dollars? What about the rental of portable toilets for millions of dollars or the hiring of one contractor to weed parapets and clean drains for hundreds of millions of dollars without adherence to tender board procedures or national procurement policies? What about the Merriman’s Mall catastrophe where hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted on unnecessary and silly initiatives all of which were handed to one contractor without a public tender?
What about the rental of a motor car for over a year now that has been placed at the disposal of a senior officer from a relative of that same senior officer? What about the granting of permission to one advertising agency to erect massive billboards all over the city at the exclusion of all the remaining advertising agencies in Georgetown?
What about the granting of permission exclusively to one person for the erection and maintenance of bus sheds that allows that person to make millions in advertising? Citizens of Georgetown, a petition should be made urgently to have all of the contracts and deals from the last 23 years made public. If not then, at least they should be presented to all Councillors, who are the elected representatives of the people. It is time for the deep dark secrets of City Hall to come to light.
Mark Roopan

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