The Mayor and some City Councillors only now have a problem with the Local Government Commission

Jul 08, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

The Mayor and some City Councillors now all of a sudden have a problem with the Local Government Commission exercising its authority in the affairs of the Georgetown City Council. It was reported in the news that the Mayor and Chairman of the Finance Committee were barred from a meeting held by the commission yesterday, to discuss Human Resource issues. The real question is were they invited? If they weren’t then they cannot be barred because they were not invited in the first place. In addition, why would the Mayor turn up to a meeting that he was not invited to? Naturally, he was embarrassed because he breached normal protocols. But with all the problems in the city including heaps of garbage everywhere, flooding in different parts, run down municipal buildings, no money at the council to do basic things and very low staff morale, the Mayor can still find time to attend a meeting to which he had no invite. It is, to say the least, unbelievable. Imagine the Mayor of an untidy Capital is busy arguing about not being invited to a meeting rather than being busy with cleaning up. It is shameful.

The funny thing about all of this is that when the commission was chaired by Mr. Mortimer Mingo, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the PNCR, that same Mayor and his band of Councillors had no problem with the Local Government Commission then. Quite a few officers were dismissed by that body without due and lawful process, including the Chief Constable and the deputy Town Clerk. The Mayor even attempted to get the current City Engineer fired. Luckily, the life of that commission expired before he could have succeeded. He attempted to do it at the council but that officer was strong, took the matter to court and won. Also, they, the Mayor and his merry band of councillors, attempted to get the commission to employ a group of hand-picked individuals for top positions at the council, one of whom was the secretary to the unlawful Commission of Inquiry, by the then Commission. But even that commission refused to honour that recommendation.

So why the problem with this commission? What is different now? The answer to that is simply this, the Local Government Commission is now chaired by a member of the ruling party, the PPP/C, Mr. Julius Faeber, an honourable man, who knows about local government administration. The trouble is that, the Mayor and his cohorts cannot influence or control the work of this commission, in any way, so there is a problem; there will always be a problem. His friends and comrades are no longer in charge. Now he has to abide by the rules and respect the commission. The Local Government Commission Act of 2013 is clear on the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Commission.

Yours truly,
Anthony Subner