Our citizens and stakeholders deserve much better from City Council

Mar 06, 2018 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Please allow me space in your newspaper to respond to an article published in the Guyana Chronicle on 03/03/2018 and captioned “The Politics at City Hall has become rotten” which was penned by a Mr. Peter Padmore as his response to a letter which I had sent to all of the local newspapers.
It is quite clear that Mr. Peter Padmore’s (if that is his real name) intention is to excuse his friends at City Hall from the numerous allegations of corruption and mismanagement, and to deflect from those issues by surreptitiously injecting his well-rehearsed but erroneous counter arguments of wrongdoing by the previous government. He should be reminded that current accusations of corruption and mismanagement at City Hall are also being raised and documented by members of his own party and coalition members, including the late Councilor Garrett, and also from citizens across the political spectrum.
I should inform Mr. Padmore that two Councilors who are members of the coalition have filed a Motion of No-Confidence against the Town Clerk based on numerous questionable actions by the Council’s administration. I will declare here that I support that measure and also to state that I have been calling for a comprehensive forensic audit of the Council for a very long time.
It is my moral authority to question what is taking place at City Hall based on the fact that I am a concerned citizen who lives in Georgetown. Based on the fact, that I was not involved nor remotely near any of the unproven (in a court of law) accusations of corruption, which Peter Padmore has carelessly levelled against the previous administration. I am also an elected Councillor of the City of Georgetown, so it is my duty and responsibility to ensure that the affairs of the City Council are conducted in an efficient, accountable and transparent manner and that core services are being performed.
It is appalling that this writer could express such disregard for the welfare of the citizens of Georgetown by his deliberate attempt to find a scapegoat in the form of the previous PPP/C administration and his condescending attempts to find excuses for the mismanagement of Georgetown. All well-meaning citizens should speak out against the current situation at City Hall, regardless of which political party they support, since these issues affect all citizens and stakeholders of Georgetown.
I must say without reservation that I am against corruption by public officials. However, the government or authorities must not selectively pursue reports of corruption, but should pursue such reports even if it involves members of their own political party, in the name of good governance.
We have heard of forensic audits authorized for many ministries and agencies for the period when the PPP/C was in government. But we have not heard of any Commissions of Inquiry or forensic audits ordered for the Durban Park project, the drug bond, the parking meter contract, the oil agreement with ExxonMobil, and the fact that even with overwhelming public outcry of allegations of corruption and mismanagement leveled against the Georgetown City Council, the government has not seen it fit to order a forensic audit or Commission of Inquiry into the operations of City Hall.
Mr. Padmore should be aware that the Auditor General is required by law to audit the books of the City Council every year but has not been able to perform successful audits for many years due to missing records or improper record-keeping procedures in addition to the many cases of unauthorized spending discovered.
Mr. Padmore should call on his friends to explain the Auditor General’s findings on the $300 million subvention given to the Council by government for the Jubilee cleanup in 2015, where there were 167 instances where payment vouchers were not authorized, 140 payment vouchers were not approved by the Treasurer, 58 payments were not approved by the Finance Committee with a combined total of $352 million, without proper records or authorizations.
Then Peter Padmore should also be informed that the Auditor General had also reported that all of the related contracts, payment vouchers and other supporting documents for the $200 million government subvention given to the Council in 2016 for the Georgetown Restoration Program were not presented to the Auditor General.
As a result of their continued financial and record-keeping irregularities, the Auditor General announced in February 2018 that he will conduct a forensic audit relating to this $200 million subvention which is also the subject of investigation by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Many citizens want to know why City Hall is getting this special pass or exemption by the government where accountability is concerned. Is it because the Council and central government are controlled by members of the same political coalition and that exposure of corruption or mismanagement is not desirable on their part? Shouldn’t the interest of the residents of Georgetown be paramount here Mr. Padmore?
The ‘honourable man’ Mr. Padmore refers to happens to be the Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee responsible for financial matters and Chairman of the Human Resource and Management Committee responsible for personnel. The Finance Committee is led by Councillor Oscar Clarke, who has been a Councillor for approximately eighteen years; and has been in the Finance Committee for a very long time.
My contentions and concerns will always be about the offices that these individuals hold and their competence or satisfactory discharge of their responsibilities, and not of a personal nature. Does Mr. Padmore know that the Chairman and members of the Finance Committee are responsible for approving all payments of the Council and that they have authorized payments for work which were not tendered or approved by the full Council?
The Finance Committee and its members have never produced a detailed financial statement on the payments that they have approved or any contract, which they have examined and agreed to, except for the parking meter contract, which Council was forced to release.
Mr. Padmore is obviously confused about whose responsibility it is to keep Georgetown clean. It is the responsibility of the Mayor and Councilors of the City of Georgetown to take care of the maintenance of Council’s roads, drainage, garbage and sanitation, markets and other areas. It is indisputable that Georgetown became known as the garbage city because the City Council failed in their responsibility to keep the City clean.
The Council has not repaired any roads for years and this was previously done by the PPP/C administration when they were in office, and is currently being done by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which is also assisting in cleaning drains and canals. The PPP/C administration also poured hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to the City Council over the years. The current government has also poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Council to keep Georgetown clean.
It should be to Mr. Peter Padmore’s advantage to learn why the coalition government or the Minister of Communities did not release money directly to the City Council to pay the garbage contractors who were owed over $300 million in 2017. The government, through the Minister of Communities, negotiated directly with the garbage contractors and paid them without any money passing through the “hands” of the City Council officials. Why was that done?
And why did the Minister of Communities decide to hire contractors directly and pay them to complete Phase One of the Kitty Market rehabilitation project instead of giving the money directly to Council? The Council wanted that subvention from the Ministry, but it was not given to them.
It should be noted that Georgetown has been controlled since our country’s independence in 1966 by one group, and they continue to exercise control over the affairs of the City to this day. No one in the wildest stretch of his or her imagination (perhaps except for Mr. Padmore) could say that City Hall was efficiently managed for the longest time.
From one crisis to another involving finances, records, workers’ salaries, garbage, drainage, failing to remit deductions from employee salaries to NIS, GRA and Credit Union, unauthorised issuing of leases, violation of tendering procedures, unauthorised fees among many other issues. It is disappointing that Peter Padmore cannot look at this situation objectively and recognise that there is a big problem at City Hall, which needs to be corrected for the benefit of our citizens and stakeholders.
The citizens of Georgetown would like to have their City managed properly with trained people who are accountable for the monies entrusted to them and for drainage problems to be fixed; garbage removed; parapets weed and cleaned; roads repaired; markets repaired; better security; laws to be followed; all required services to be performed; proper accountability; transparency and last but not least good governance to be implemented at City Hall.
I trust that Mr. Padmore and those individuals who share his sentiments will look beyond their political allegiances and work towards remedying the issues that plague the Council since our citizens and stakeholders deserve better.
Yours faithfully,
Bishram Kuppen – Councillors
Mayor & Councillors of the City of Georgetown

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