Head of FITUG Carvil Duncan today called on President Donald Ramotar to install an Interim Management Council for Georgetown.
Addressing workers at the National Park, Duncan singled out Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green, saying he is unable to manage the city and that workers of the Mayor & City Council (M&CC) have not been paid for last month but yet he was marching with APNU in the Labour Day march.
He recommended to President Ramotar, who was also present at the National Park, that an Interim Management Council should be put in place to run the city, since he has a “moral responsibility to the citizens of Georgetown.”
Green’s council has been in place since 1994, the year local government elections were last held.
While it has been criticized by stakeholders across the board, it has also been acknowledged that its revenue base is too narrow for managing the responsibilities of the capital city and that the government has not given the green light to its proposals for raising more funds.
Shortly after it won the general elections in 1992, the PPP/C had installed an IMC to run Georgetown. It was widely acclaimed as it was able to muster support from the private sector for garbage clearing and sprucing up of the city.
The current council comprises representative of three groups: Green’s A Good and Green Guyana, the PNC and the PPP/C. In 1994 Green’s group won 12 seats, the PNC, 10 and the PPP/C, 8.
Observers say that the PPP/C has been toying with the idea of replacing the council with an IMC for several years now and given the stalemate in parliament it could be an option to give the party’s profile a boost in the all-important Georgetown particularly if a snap election is to be called.
