Linden Town Council ordered to reinstate Town Clerk

Feb 27, 2017 News

Embattled Linden Town Clerk, Jonellor Bowen, is to resume duty after a Commission of Inquiry (COI) found that the Linden Town Council made a number of procedural errors when it moved a no confidence motion against her last year.
The Commission, which was headed by Mortimer Mingo, found that the no-confidence motion that was moved by the Town Council on July 27 last year was in contravention of the Standing Order and the Municipality Act.
Notwithstanding the toxicity that was found between the Town Clerk Jonellor Bowen and the Mayor Carwyn Holland, the COI advised that Bowen be allowed to resume her duties and recommended that she be transferred to another department so that she can function without any run-ins with Holland.
The Ministry of Communities has subsequently taken the position, through its Permanent Secretary, Emile Mc Garrell, to have the Town Clerk resume her substantive role. The ministry has since written to the Linden Town Council instructing them that Ms. Bowen should be re-instated immediately.

Linden Town Clerk Jonellor Bowen

McGarrell, by letter, stated that he cannot stand by the Council since their decision was fraught with procedural flaws. Additionally, Mc Garrell was not in support of the transferral recommendation made by the COI, since he has asked for her to resume her duties as Town Clerk.
Bowen told Kaieteur News that she is ready to resume her duties and has debunked claims that she has an issue with the Mayor. Bowen said that she is willing to work with anyone, including Holland, to further the greater good of that town. She did admit that she raised the issue of transportation monies, which is believed to be around $500,000 that was used by Holland and his Deputy, Mayor Waneka Arrindell, to offset transportation expenses.
However, she was adamant that she did not leak any information about those expenses. Further, she categorically denied that she was undermining the work of the Council and was working to foster the ambitions of the Opposition party to which she is accused of being aligned.
According to councillor Lennox Gasper, the council has since met on the issue of Bowen’s re-instatement and it was decided that she should return to work on the 1st March.