Dear Editor,
I consider the reaction of the Honourable Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green to inquiries for details of his trip to China to be bordering on hypocrisy. At a time when many of us, including the Mayor himself, are expressing our revulsion for this kind of secrecy in the operations of the state and the travels of the President, it is disappointing to witness Mr Green indulging in like behaviour.
As the Chief Executive of the Capital City, in a manner of speaking, the Mayor is accountable to us the residents of Georgetown in terms of his absences from his office, and any circumstances and arrangements having to do with such absences. His response to inquiries in that context that it is no one’s business is arrogant and boorish, and provides a side to this Mayor that harkens back to a time when he was much younger. Could it be that the amiable and amenable posture the Mayor presents to the public hides a personality that is symbiotic with the one he publicly crticizes in the President.
Reality Check Mr. Mayor. We Guyanese have lost patience with politicians who seem to believe that electing them to office is the equivalent of placing a crown on their heads and bestowing upon them all the powers and privileges that were once considered an entitlement of Royalty. You are public servants. We are your bosses. We pay your salaries, and you are supposed to work in our interest. Anything you do in pursuit of your job obligations is “our business”. And nothing is more important to us than full disclosure of third party involvement in any benefit that comes to, or is bestowed upon you while you are in our employ. Please do not encourage us to lose respect for you as a consequence of this kind of hubris and intolerance in response to inquiries about what you are doing in our name and on our time. So, tell us who paid for your recent trip to China and what was promised for Georgetown?
Yours faithfully,
Mark A. Benschop
Leader of the
Independent Party
