City Hall is home to a twisted soap opera

Oct 26, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
As someone following in the press, the unacceptable and unhappy reports being made daily to the Commission of Inquiry that has been set up to probe into the goings-on at the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown, it is clear to me that there are two common threads running through most of these reports.
Those threads are extreme corruption and a complete disregard for the human resources of the Georgetown Municipality both past and present.
In any decent, reputable and caring organization, had there been even just a few of the atrocities committed, which however seem quite routine at that City Council, their Human Resources Manager would have long been given the pink slip and possibly even prosecuted. But at the Georgetown Municipality it is no problem.
How could the officer whose responsibility it is to manage the Council’s human resources, just sit happily by and allow the deduction of NIS contributions, GRA income tax, credit union dues, etc, month after month for years from the poor hapless employees, without ensuring that same is remitted to the relevant agencies?
This slackness is not only extremely callous of the HR, but against the law and a serious offence.
How could the Human Resources Manager, knowing fully about the purported financial crunch of the Council, allow for the monthly payroll of the Council to swell to well over a hundred million dollars with a whopping number of approximately eight hundred employees most of whom have no tools or materials to work with and thus are forced to idle all day long?
One can only hope that the enormous and well-known problem of nepotism, cronyism and favouritism at the Council, will be addressed by this Commission as it is no secret that hundreds of the employees of the Council are relatives, friends, paramours, church pals, and neighbours of some Councillors and some senior officers of the Council including the those of the very Human Resources Manager.
How could the Human Resources Manager of the supposedly cash strapped City Council, support and accept the upgrading of her own Personnel Section from a modest and practical section turning it into a huge useless, wasteful and expensive Human Resource Department?
All this has allowed for is huge salary increases for those operating within, including herself, and the addition of numerous cushy super salaried positions, whilst the service from that division, which was always appalling has now gotten even far worse.
The non-payment of gratuities and pensions to those who have retired from the Council after decades of unstinting service by the Council’s Human Resource Department is nothing short of aberrant, ruthless and fraudulent.
How could they withhold these monies owed to these former employees, whilst placing themselves on higher salary scales and at the top of their scales, and paying themselves some nineteen allowances?
How could this Human Resources Manager be organizing grand retreats to luxurious resorts, host grand celebratory lunches to mark various occasions and be sending their friends and relatives to seminars and meetings overseas whilst the ordinary worker faces severe medical risks due to the non-payment of the medical scheme contributions and others left to starve without their gratuities, pensions, insurances, officer deposit refunds etc?
Does the HR care that employees who have to go into the trenches, spray dangerous chemicals and slaughter animals, lack the protective clothing and gear needed, that the Constables are without uniforms and bullet proof vests, that many municipal buildings are unfit for habitation whilst hundreds of millions of dollars are being doled out to contractors without adherence to tender board procedures?
Listening to the daily reports of the Commission is like listening to some twisted soap opera, that could be named ‘The Callous and the Corrupt’ with the evil characters vying to see who could fill their saddlebags with more ill-gotten loot than the other before riding off into the sunset.
Sincerely,
Mark Roopan

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