Govt. is no scapegoat for City Council’s failures – President Ali

May 26, 2021 News

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Kaieteur News – President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has said that while the welfare of the capital city remains paramount, Government will not allow itself to be used as a scapegoat when the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) fails in fulfilling its duties.
The Head of State made this assertion while responding to a recent statement made by City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, in which he claimed that the President is starving the council of resources.
“Let me be very clear, this Government cares tremendously about our city, but we will not allow ourselves to be used as a scapegoat in the city, not fulfilling its responsibility and mandate, or in the city converting everything into political opportunism or a political football. As President, I am not going to allow the Mayor to get away with a statement like this,” Ali said.
The President noted that whilst the council is not fulfilling its mandate to maintain the environment and infrastructure, Central Government has embarked on a massive programme to clean the city, establish roundabouts and maintain the roadways and drainage.
“We have invested in pumps to ensure, as far as possible, we have improved the drainage situation in the city to prevent flooding. These are the necessary investments, because as a Government, the city reflects who we are as a country too,” he said alluding to the array of programmes implemented to engage communities in the cleaning-up of various wards in the city, including South Georgetown, Sophia and Albouystown.
The President noted nonetheless, that this responsibility is of the City Council, which he said continues to fail the people of the city.
“[And], every time they fail the people of the city, they try to pass the buck on or pass the burden on,” added Ali.
President Ali reminded too, that Central Government has a responsibility to ensure that resources are spent for what they are budgeted for and to ensure that there is accountability and transparency. Pointing to the discrepancies uncovered at City Hall over the years, the President noted that the M&CC continues to breach Section 177 of Chapter 28:01 of the Municipal and District Councils Act, which requires the Council to prepare accounts yearly and submit same for audit no later than four months after the end of the year. Further, he highlighted that in 2004, in the last audited financial statement, a disclaimer of opinion was issued by the Auditor General. A disclaimer is where the information submitted cannot stand up to scrutiny.
According to Ali, in 2005, again a disclaimer opinion was issued; 2006 to 2011, no financial statements were submitted; 2012 to 2015 financial statements were submitted but the information required could not have allowed auditors to express an opinion; 2016 to 2020, again, no financial statements were submitted for the period.
President Ali also revealed that in 2019, following an investigation of the M&CC, several discrepancies were revealed and reported to the Audit Office. These include: failure to remit workers National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions; failure to remit workers Credit Union contributions; failure to remit workers Guyana Revenue Authority’s Pay as You Earn (PAYE) deductions from workers; failure to effect payment of retirement benefits (gratuity) to a number of workers; issues surrounding the number of contracts in keeping with financial regulations, transparency, and accountability; waiver of rates and taxes; rental of wharf facilities and the granting of leases.
He added that as recent as March of 2021, a special audit commenced, and again similar issues were uncovered concerning the National Insurance Scheme, Guyana Revenue Authority and monies not paid over.
“All of these were issues highlighted, where transparency, accountability and clear violations and breaches we found, yet, central government continues to transfer resources to the city. But how long must we, as a people, and as a Government allow this blatant disregard for transparency and accountability, this blatant disregard for the rules and laws governing the financial accountability of the Mayor and City Council? There must come a time when things will come to a head and these things have to be fixed. We cannot continue this level of mismanagement,” he said.
In the interim, the Head of State said that the Government is fully committed to ensuring that City Hall, the physical building, is restored. “That is a project we have budgeted resources for in the budget and we are going to work on implementing.” The historic building has increasingly deteriorated over the past two decades with several restoration efforts failing to take off.
President Ali reiterated that while his Government is desirous of “nothing short of an excellent relationship with the city”, it will not be blamed for the City’s mismanagement, nor will they disregard all of these discrepancies over the years and continue to transfer money blindly knowing of all of the irregularities.
“So, I just want to make it very, very clear, that we want a partnership for the development of the city, but we cannot allow the City Council to continue to blatantly disregard what is out there in terms of its responsibility and in terms of its fiduciary responsibility…. Notwithstanding all of this, we are moving forward with a plan and programme to improve the welfare, well-being, living conditions, and standard of the people of the city and those who use the city, and we are sparing no resources in achieving this,” he added.

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