Latest update November 27th, 2024 1:00 AM
Latest News
- ExxonMobil reports ‘record September’ to shareholders as production peaks to 660,000 barrels
- Suriname to deposit royalty from oil to citizens’ bank accounts
- Israel, Hezbollah agree to ceasefire brokered by US and France, to take effect Wednesday
- Fire completely destroys KN, Bhenas Footwear warehouse leaving hundreds of millions in losses
- We must demand a referendum to end this madness.
Let us not make this a blame game, Mr. Mayor
DEAR EDITOR,
I was extremely disappointed to read in the newspapers recently, a report that quoted the Mayor of Georgetown as blaming the citizens for the Council’s financial troubles and their tardiness which caused them to fail to pay the National Insurance Scheme for a number of years now, resulting in them racking up a debt of more than 218 million dollars. Also for late payments to staff, for non-payment to garbage collectors, and failure to remit the monthly pay as you earn deductions to the GRA from its workers.
I am disappointed that the Mayor is allowing himself to be misled by officers in his Administrative and Finance Departments. I am sad that he has begun to sing the same old tune that the cow died on which was sung by his predecessors.
The first thing the Mayor needs to understand is that the Council did not have the option of withholding or delaying the payments due to the National Insurance Scheme, while they frittered away millions of dollars on frequent and expensive overseas junkets and building Presidential Parks etc. According to the Insurance Act of Guyana, it is a criminal offence if entities fail to pay their contributions by the due date. So why was the Council allowed to get away with this for years?
According to the Mayor had taxpayers paid their taxes (I guess he means property rates), the M&CC would not have been in its current financial state. The Mayor should not be using such a broad brush to paint all ratepayers, as the vast majority of property owners are faithful, honest and law-abiding citizens who honour their financial commitments to City Hall promptly. But more importantly, the Mayor needs to understand that until the Council’s financial records are properly audited and qualified, there will be a reluctance by some property owners to throw their money into a ‘black hole’ as they see City Hall to be.
The Mayor then goes on to rhetorically ask the question ‘How can we sustain our staff?’ The answer to that, I would suggest that he considers getting rid of about half of the more than eight hundred workers – most of whom are in clerical and administrative positions and who idle most of the day.
Surely the Mayor must understand by now that the City cannot afford to carry a payroll of more than one hundred million monthly. It is just unsustainable and wasteful. The city needs to get rid of all those who sit in nice cushy offices and pontificate all day long for super salaries and benefits.
He also alludes to the fact that there is the issue of nonpayment to garbage contractors. Is he aware of how many times the central government has bailed them out in this regard, which means the citizens are paying for garbage collection services twice – First through property rates which are wasted and second through taxes that are paid to central government.
But more importantly, if the Mayor would go through his archives he would realize that the Georgetown Municipality always used to provide their own garbage collection services very efficiently at a fraction of the cost of the contractors. It is just laziness and corruption that has caused the Council to incur this additional and substantial cost, and therefore he should not be blaming the citizens for their depleted finances.
Finally the Mayor needs to understand that even though property rates and other municipal fees and charges have gone up substantially over the years, municipal services have gone down drastically.
No longer does the Council patch or build new roads, the wharf of the Stabroek Market was allowed to rot and collapse, the City Hall is in ruins, bridges are not maintained, the cemetery is in an atrocious state, ‘Old Smokey’ the City Incinerator has ceased to operate, a number of Day Care Centres have been shuttered, parapets are not weeded, the drains are not dug, the clocks on the markets have stopped working, the municipal markets are almost uninhabitable, vendors and shoppers at these markets are robbed on a daily basis, the city is not fogged for mosquitoes and yards not visited by public health officers, persons are selling expired and fake food products in the shops and markets, the pavements are congested with illegal vending.
Let us not make this a blame game, but rather, let us try to fix City Hall which is broken, and let us work together to make our capital city ‘the Garden City’ again.
Sincerely,
Amakali Morgan
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