Mayor rejects Minister’s advice on re-appointing acting Town Clerk

Dec 23, 2020 News

Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine.

Kaieteur News – City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, has rejected the advice of the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, to reappoint Candace Nelson as acting Town Clerk.
Nelson, who was acting in the position of Town Clerk, was recently removed over her refusal to take instructions from the Georgetown Council. She had claimed that the council could not instruct her and her supervisory body is the now defunct Local Government Commission (LGC).
The mayor had sought to address the issue. He told the press that the Council moved a motion to immediately remove Nelson as acting Town Clerk and replaced her with the assistant Town Clerk, Julian Orgista.

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall.

Candace Nelson.

However, this decision did not seem to sit well with Minister Dharamlall. The Minister in a letter yesterday noted that he had given his no objection for Nelson to be appointed Town Clerk and for her to act in that capacity until the acting Town Clerk returns from annualized leave.
In the letter, the Minister noted that: “I have full confidence in Ms Nelson’s ability and in agreement with the Local Government Commission’s view that no suppression of personnel should be tolerated.”
He said that as such, he anticipates that the Council would give Nelson its full support and cooperation. In response, Mayor Narine noted that he could not accede to the Minister’s suggestion.
He said in a letter, that he could not find legislation that gives the Minister such authority.
“Please be reminded as I did in that letter of the 4th December, 2020 and point me to legislation which confers you with such authority. Again, I am guided by Chapter 28:01 Section 97-117 which give rise to the Local Government Commission Act No. 18 of 2013. In the circumstances, I shall deem and treat your correspondence dated the 21st December, 2020 as a nullity,” Narine added.
During a press conference last week, Mayor Narine explained that Nelson’s removal was due to her refusal to carry out the instructions of the Council as it regards a letter to the LGC.
He explained that Nelson failed to carry out instructions regarding the said letter.
“I said to her take this letter to Council because Council has to give a direction to the Town Clerk how to address such letter. And she failed to do so. She had done the opposite, instead she instructed the HR manager to carry out the duty of the LGC and you and me know, that there is no commission in place and the secretariat of the commission cannot function without a body, the laws states it clearly,” the Mayor noted.

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