Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green is bracing for a fight against a move for the holding of mayoral vote that could unseat him.
Last Monday, Good and Green Guyana (GGG) Councillor Llewellyn John tabled a motion before the council seeking a resolution to clear the way for internal elections for mayor and deputy mayor. The motion has been seconded by PNC Councillor Oscar Clarke. Clarke has been tipped to be Mayor with John as deputy, succeeding Robert Williams in that post.
The motion is expected to be debated at tomorrow’s statutory council meeting and, if passed, Local Government Minster Kellawan Lall will almost certainly order the holding of polls as the administration has long been dissatisfied with Green’s stewardship of the municipality. He has been mayor since 1996, remaining in office while local government elections have been serially postponed.
“It is a lot of political manoeuvring,” Green told Stabroek News. “The government wants to get rid of me because I have been opposing them.” He said the amendment to the Local Authorities (Election) Act, empowering the Local Government Minister to order the holding of mayoral and deputy mayoral polls, was passed with the intention of unseating him. PNCR leader Robert Corbin had opposed the amendment in the National Assembly.
“We feel they [the polls] are long overdue,” said John, who is now a central executive for the PNCR in Region Four. He added that the democratic principle dictates that elections be held. “The PNC wants to follow the democratic principle.”
Although local government elections have been delayed, John has continually argued that it could not affect the holding of polls for mayor and deputy mayor which is done at the council level. He sought previously to move a similar motion, citing Section 11 of the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01, which stipulates that anyone who has served for five successive terms as mayor is ineligible to contest for re-election. By John’s computation, Green has served nine terms.
In 2002, Town Clerk Beulah Williams sought an opinion on Green’s eligibility to contest for re-election from State Counsel Lakshmi Shiwnandan, who indicated that he might not be.
The law states that even if their terms are expired, both mayor and deputy mayor shall continue to hold office until there are successors. As a result, Green could conceivably argue that since the council did not hold annual elections, he has been serving an extended term and he did say yesterday that he was “absolutely” eligible to contest the polls.
According to Green, his opponents do not seem to understand the “bigger issue,” which he said was the government clearing the municipality of the opposition. Instead of interfering with the council, he said, the government should get on with local government reform and the holding of delayed polls. “This is a distraction and persons in the PNC and the GGG are being caught up in it,” Green added.
Local government elections have been due since 1997. The government and the main opposition PNCR have been attempting to hammer out agreements on local government reform in keeping with the recommendations of the constitutional reform process. A joint task force has been working on the reforms since 2001.
John was originally a member of Green’s GGG party, which won 12 seats at the last municipal elections, while the PNC won 10 and the PPP/C eight. The GGG, however, has been factionalised over the years, lessening Green’s chances of winning the vote. Although Green has been readmitted into the PNCR, he said he is likely to contest the polls on the GGG slate, though he mentioned that talks are ongoing among the parties.
