City Hall’s delay on parking meter suspension unfortunate

Mar 22, 2017 News

– Former Local Govt. Minister

The decision by the Full Council of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council not to heed the direction of Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to suspend the parking meter by-laws, has been described as ‘unfortunate’ by former

Former Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud

Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Persaud said that Minister Bulkan acted appropriately and in the spirit of the law which empowers him to direct City Hall to suspend the enforcement of the by-laws for the suggested three-month period.
He said that the suspension of the by-laws would render all activities which the by-laws govern, illegal. According to Persaud, Bulkan’s order calls for a suspension for a definite period, this means that after the time expires, the project will be enforced once again.
However, he said that if Bulkan had pulled his approval of the by-laws completely or for an indefinite period, it would mean that City Hall would have to re-submit by-laws for the Minister to approve.
Persaud added that the by-laws can only be approved by the Minister, and likewise, he alone has the power to suspend them. He said that Bulkan has the right to order the suspension if there are issues which he believes he needs further information on before proceeding with the project.
Bulkan in his order made under the Municipal and District Councils Act (Cap. 28:01) described the order as the Georgetown Metered Parking (Suspension) Order 2017.
The Communities Minister declared that the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown are in default of their functions with respect to the Georgetown Metered Parking by-laws. He directed the Mayor and Councillors to suspend the Georgetown Metered Parking by-laws for three months which should have commenced last Friday.
At an Extraordinary Statutory meeting held on Monday last, 18 councillors of the M&CC decided that they should be given more time to study the legal implications which a suspension of the metered parking by-laws would invite.
It was expected that with the majority of the councillors being politically aligned to A Partnership for National Unity, that the council would have decided in favour of Bulkan’s order.
The order issued by the Minister followed the request of Cabinet that the M&CC be advised by Bulkan to halt the project for three months to allow for thorough consultation with citizens of Georgetown and wider Guyana concerning the implementation of the project.
At the extraordinary meeting, a legal opinion on the matter prepared by Attorney-at-Law, Roger Yearwood was circulated to the councillors. In that document, the lawyer said that Bulkan’s order was null and void, since nowhere in the Act permits the Minister to direct the council to suspend any contract or by-law.
According to Yearwood, if the Council were to accede to the mandate of the Minister, it would be the act of the council which will effectively suspend the by-laws and not the order of the Minister.
As such, the Attorney said that this would necessarily leave the council susceptible to a claim for breach of contract by Smart City Solutions.
It is believed that the wording of Minister Bulkan’s order with the use of the word ‘direct’ is putting the ball in the court of the M&CC to call for the suspension of the by-laws and not Bulkan using his power to suspend them himself.
However, after perusing Section 306 (2) of the Municipal and District Councils Act (Cap. 28:01), the Minister can issue a second order making it clear that the by-laws are suspended and not leaving it up to the M&CC to make the call. The section reads, “The Minister may by a subsequent order, vary any directions contained in an order made under subsection (1).”

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