Accusations against the Bartica Town Council

Dec 25, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
With three appointments and no acknowledgement, the spirit of victimization is alive and well at the Bartica Town Council. November 1st, 7th and 21st I personally made three appointments to meet with the Mayor of the Bartica Town Council to have a wide range of issues discussed after a number of vendors, residents and some members of the business community who have been turning up at my home, placing calls to my cell phone to register their concern in what they deemed unfair treatment and abuse of power by the Town Clerk, Ms Phebe Wallerson and the Mayor, who by the way are very active in the Baptiste Church in Bartica.
After there was no response from the mayor’s office to have those issues discuss, I am left with no other choice but to believe that the Bartica Town Council likes to have their dirty laundry hung in the public domain. Even after I left my name and number, to date there is no reply from the mayor’s office. I was told by a source within the mayor’s office when he received my appointment from that source, he asked sarcastically; ‘who is Sherwyn Downer?’
It is alleged that a councilor went to a business person’s place and pretended that he was taking a selfie picture, when in fact, he was photographing the business establishment and in turn gave the picture to the council to have the council victimize that business person. No doubt, some vendors and residents are in arrears to the Town Council.
It is also alleged that there is the refusal to accept payments in part from vendors. They want all of the money at once. It must be also noted, presently, there is no economic activity taking place. Business is dead. Some amount of compassion should be shown to residents and vendors or even have an amnesty programme where the above mentioned categories of persons can honour their debts to the town council.
It is also alleged that the Town Clerk suspended a vendor from vending for two weeks on allegations that the vendor used indecent language in her presence. One vendor who was in arrears of $45000 and took in $30000 as a part payment was refused and was told to go and make it right. The Town Clerk must show which part or chapter in the Local Government Municipal District Act that empowers her to refuse vendors money in part payments and suspend vendors who allegedly used indecent language in her presence.
The Bartica town council is being called upon to explain or to justify why the entire West Indian Housing scheme residents receive service from the town council but not the Downer family. All of the residents’ garbage is picked up by the council except the above mentioned family. Whose decision was this or from whom was the order given not pick up the garbage. The senior and junior pastors who sit on the council, the town clerk and mayor who are all Christians, or so I thought, and hold senior positions within their churches respectively must explain this unbecoming behavior of the council of which they are part of. A question for the men of the cloth: does God victimize or discriminate?
I condemn, without reservation, the acts of victimization against my family by the Bartica Town Council. I will continue to be vocal on issues that matter most to the residents of Bartica, vendors and the business community and to bring a voice to the voiceless Barticians who desire to speak out about what is happening but are afraid to do so out of fear of being victimized. Let it be known to the Bartica Town Council that no amount of intimidation will stop me from speaking out.
I call on the Minister of Social Cohesion and Council of Churches to intervene. In my opinion, because of the high presence of religious leaders on the council, they should be working overtime to unite Barticians and not the opposite. I am most certain that the government, the minister and Ministry of Communities will not condone such acts of victimization by the Bartica Town Council. I am for peace but they at the town council seem to be for war.
Sherwyn Delano Downer

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