Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Robert Williams died yesterday morning at the Caribbean Heart Institute, where he had been a patient for several weeks.
Williams, 62, had been suffering from a heart condition for some time but his health took a drastic turn late last year when he had to be rushed to the public institute. There, relatives said Williams’s health deteriorated and he looked “lower and lower” over time.
His son, Kenroy Williams, in a press statement, said that his father lived in full service to Guyana and pursued his commitments with vigour and enthusiasm.
“He will be missed sorely,” he said, while adding the funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.
Williams, a former Mayor of Georgetown, was also a serving Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) at the time of his death.
Current Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green told Stabroek News that Williams was an open and kind person and he had considered him a solid patriot. He added that he had known Williams all his life and indicated that he was always concerned about fellow human beings.
“I relied on him for a lot of things, both in the city council and beyond that,” Green pointed out.
Also, Public Relations Officer of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) Royston King, in a press release, stated that Williams served as Mayor from 1987 to 1989 and Deputy Mayor from 1998 to the time of his passing.
During his tenure, the statement continued, Williams served as Chairman of the Finance, City Works, Public Health and Market committees and was also a member of several other committees of the council.
He was said to have played a major role in the development of the New Vendors Mall on Water Street and other market facilities around the city.
“Perhaps, his greatest contribution to the local government is the conceptualization and establishment the Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM),” King said in the press release, adding that his passing was a great loss to the council.
PNCR leader Robert Corbin, in an invited comment, conveyed condolences to the family of Williams. “We were contemporaries in the youth movement from the time he lived at Corentyne and we’ve been friends ever since, so I do feel a sense of loss for a personal friend,” he said.
“As it relates to him, I think it’s a loss to a country, a young man who was committed throughout his life to political activism. His service on the Elections Commission was at a very critical time and I think we, on behalf of the PNC, would like to recall the debt of gratitude for his contributions while he served on that programme,” Corbin added.
The AFC also extended condolences to the family, the M&CC and the Guyana Elections Commission.
“Robert Williams gave diligent service to the city of Georgetown, especially through trying times, serving as Deputy Mayor, a position he held for over a decade and Chairman of Municipality’s Finance Committee. His sterling contributions to the works of the Guyana Elections Commission, where he served as Commissioner for many years, will forever be remembered,” the AFC noted.
The PPP also said it was deeply saddened at Williams’ passing. In a statement, it noted that he had been involved in politics for a number of years and he was considered to be an excellent figure, who worked beyond the borders of political loyalty in advancing the interest of the nation.
Closely linked to the PPP/C government while serving as Deputy Mayor was a clear indication of this as he acted within his capacity to address the challenges faced by the M&CC and more specifically, he initiated several interventions by central government to focus on the inadequacies of management.
“His being one of the leading voices inside City Hall towards improving the management of out capital city will surely be missed along with his exemplary work as Gecom Commissioner, among his many other endeavours during his long and distinguished career,” the statement said.
Williams had been a commissioner of Gecom since it was established as a permanent entity in 2000.
“Commissioner Williams will be remembered for his insightful, open-minded and logical contributions during commission meetings. His lucid and practical approach to the solutions of conundra which the commission perpetually encounters will be dearly missed,” Gecom spokesman Vishnu Persaud, meanwhile, said in a statement.
He also noted that notwithstanding his ailing health, Williams was “never absent from any of the ever increasing meetings of the commission in the run up to the 2011 General and Regional Elections. Such was his level of commitment to and the seriousness with which he approached his responsibilities as a Gecom commissioner.”
Persaud extended condolences to Williams’ relatives and friends on behalf of Gecom and the staff of the Gecom Secretariat, saying they would “feel his loss as much as we do.”
