THE PROTEST CONTINUES

Mar 05, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

The protest against City Hall over the parking meter contract continues for the fifth week. And it seems that the government is content to allow the duo at City Hall, the Mayor and Town Clerk to have their way.
Many are appalled by the arrogance being displayed by the duo at City Hall. It has eroded support for the government. Even though the Mayor and Town Council have the authority to make decisions, installing the parking meters without proper consultation with the public was silly.
As elected officials, they have an obligation to the people, and projects of this magnitude should have had inputs from a cross section of the society. Instead, the project which was shrouded in secrecy could have serious economic consequences for the City and the entire country. It was ill-advised and ill-timed.
As tempers continue to flare and the debate rages on, several groups, including Transparency Institute of Guyana, the Private Sector Commission and the Movement against Parking Meters have called on the government to scrap the project. Reducing the parking rates by 50 percent is a woeful attempt to save face. The groups contend that the contract is oppressive and one-sided. Many have claimed that benefits from the contract have flowed to some in the form of bribery.
The public is demanding that a bi-partisan Commission of Inquiry be established to investigate the project and let the chips fall where they may. By admitting that the contract was not reviewed by a lawyer, the duo at City Hall has shown gross incompetence and both should resign. Who in this modern era signs a contract without having it reviewed by a lawyer?
However, it has been alleged that there is complicity between the government and City Hall. They cited the City’s non-compliance with the procurement requirements as evidence of the complicity because the government did not oppose it. The fact that the contract was reviewed by the Ministries of Communities, Finance and Legal Affairs and by the Cabinet and was deemed unacceptable, yet City Hall was given the green light to proceed with the project.
Indeed, City Hall is an autonomous body, but for the government to say that it cannot intervene is deceptive. It has cast the government in an untrustworthy light. Unless its hands are tied, the government should not have allowed the parking meter project to unfold in this discomfiting way.
The government ought to know that the people are infuriated because of the secrecy surrounding the contract and the way the City has imposed it on them. Worse yet, the granting of monopoly to Smart City Solutions (SCS) for a lengthy period and that City Hall has agreed to absolve SCS of all financial liability is ridiculous.
The fact that the duo at City Hall believes that the national outrage is driven by politics and not by their dictatorial style shows that they are in denial and lack the proper skills to govern. The suspicion that some public officials have been bribed seems real. And to add insult to injury, the government and City Hall have remained silent over the scurrilous remarks of Ifa Cush, a director of SCS who is also a signatory to the contract.
There is no denying that the City needs money, but the parking meter project is not the answer.