Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green on Friday said that the President’s non-assent to the Local Government (Amendment) Bill has effectively left the city council at the mercy of the Minister of Local Government, who he accused of micromanaging the city through the acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba.
“That bill is the one that removes from the minister the awesome authority from managing the city through the Town Clerk,” Green said at a press conference on Friday.
“We are facing a government that has reverted to its old communist ideological position, a Stalin like control of every facet of our country. We all want elections as quickly as possible and what we are facing is that the PPP is not comfortable with any movement which makes a reality of the constitution, and to do what is done in any democratic society…where the local bodies are given autonomy and flexibility to serve the effective communities,” he added.
Last week, President Donald Ramotar assented to three of the four local government bills which were passed in the National Assembly three months ago. The three bills were the Fiscal Transfers Bill, Municipal and District Councils (Amend-ment) Bill and the Local Government Commission bill.
However, he did not sign the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to wrest ministerial control over local authorities and to vest them in the Local Government Com-mission. Ramotar subsequently said that the decision to withhold assent from bill was taken because he felt the changes it would effect were unconstitutional.
Main opposition APNU has condemned the president’s decision, saying that by refusing to assent to the bill, Ramotar has demonstrated his intent to keep as much power as possible in the hands of central government.
Meanwhile, Green also said that even though the president has signed the Fiscal Transfers Bill into law, this means nothing as the minister will still have certain powers.
“They have approved the Fiscal Transfers Bill which means at the end of every year a certain sum is allocated to each municipality, but judging from the way these honourable ladies and gentlemen behave, it may not be surprising if they delay the submission transfer of these funds if a particular RDC is not in their comfort zone. That too can mean nothing when the minister still has certain powers,” he said.
“We are waiting to see whether they would expeditiously establish the [Local Government] Com-mission and whether they would not be a collision course with the powers that the Minister still has to discipline staff. We hope that they are not so obtuse as to ignore the new provisions that will go into the Commission,” he added.
Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase Green, who also spoke at the press conference, noted that applications for a qualified Town Clerk were advertised some time ago. “We advertised for a qualified Town Clerk some time ago and the closing date was on October 4…. So far, we have not heard anything from the Ministry of Local Government as regards to short listing and interviews for that position,” he said.
Chase-Green said that the situation with the garbage has gotten to a state that not even City Hall can be cleaned effectively. “We are not able to mobilise persons to clean even the City Hall compound. If we are in City Hall and we are not able to maintain the cleanliness of this place, tell me how can we maintain the cleanliness of the city?” she questioned.
