Georgetown earned nearly $3 billion in 2012 from the collection of rates and taxes, yet little has been done in terms of rehabilitation and upkeep, Minister of Local Govern-ment Ganga Persaud said yesterday, but he warned that it was unlikely that local government elections would be held this year.
Speaking at a press conference at Freedom House, a recent Monday staple, Persaud said the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) was not meeting its obligations in governance.
Instead, he stated, the M&CC was acting as though “the near $3 billion that was collected last year as rates and taxes was inadequate.”
Last year the M&CC had presented a budget $1.94 billion, but which went up to $2.77 billion when debts were included.
Persaud said that for this year, 80 per cent of Georgetown residents had already paid their rates and taxes, including the central government to the tune of $150 million.
He called Mayor Hamilton Green “ineffective and incompetent” while admitting that local government elections were more than likely to be postponed yet again this year.
The minister said that the various laws in the Municipal and District Councils Act were not being followed, and may be “selectively enforced”. Persaud said an inquiry into the accounting of the M&CC had to be conducted to show where money collected from rates and taxes was actually going.
An inquiry into the workings of City Hall, commissioned in 2008 and completed in 2009 had found widespread financial and procedural irregularities regarding the operations of the council. Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry Keith Burrowes had said when he presented the findings of the report that it “confirmed what was noted by the 2006 Auditor General Report, which prompted the investigation in the first place”.
In January 2010, the then town clerk Beulah Williams and city treasurer Roderick Edinboro were sacked from their posts by then local government minister Kellawan Lall based on the findings of the report.
Stakeholders have questioned the need for another inquiry when all of the recommendations of the Burrowes commission have not yet been implemented.
Meanwhile, Persaud said that the “human bureaucracy established by the mayor intended not to serve the citizens of this municipality but to serve some wider political agenda”.
He stated that “more and more central government is taking over responsibilities that should be executed by the council and central government is doing that because of its caring approach and concern.”
Persaud stated that the Public Works Ministry has taken over the repairing of roads and upkeep of traffic lights throughout George-town, while the M&CC has lagged. He noted that the M&CC has both a public works and a waste management department, but its public works department has not even fixed a pothole to date. Persaud continued that the Minister of Agriculture and the NDIA have taken over the maintenance of drainage within the city limits and the Ministry of Natural Re-sources and the Environment has designed a more effective waste management service through the Pick It Up Campaign.
Persaud stated that the M&CC is in charge of the waste management and garbage collection of two out of the city’s nine neighbourhoods.
However “the worst serviced areas are those areas a bleaker outlook is the statement of facts that the municipality of Georgetown owns far more garbage collection receptacles and vehicles than any of the private contractors operating in this country.”
He said there was a clear cut example of the M&CC’s complete disregard in the functions and maintenance of markets.
Markets are high revenue generating establishments for the M&CC, but no proper accounting of monthly and yearly rental prices has been done, the minister lamented.
“You have overflowing sanitary facilities in all of these markets, poor lighting, lack of security… in many instances lack of even water,” he said.
Persaud said the city is in need of financial accountability as the money is not being properly utilised; he even charged that the Municipal and District Councils Act could be “used by the constabulary to extort and increase their personal income.”
In a statement the PPP slammed the Mayor for his ongoing feud with the acting Town Clerk, while encouraging the various ministries to continue giving assistance in areas where the M&CC had seemingly given up.
Persaud stated that the M&CC had to be more accountable to residents. However, critics have noted that the lack of local government elections has given the central government the ability to starve the city of much needed resources at the municipal level while administering help through the executive level.
