Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green yesterday decried Justice Brassington Reynold’s decision to withhold a ruling on the legality of the appointment of acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba in light of pending appeals.
This decision, announced on Wednesday, disappointed Green, who told a news conference that justice delayed is justice denied.
City Hall spokesperson Royston King initiated the proceedings against Sooba, after
a ruling in April that was made by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, who had quashed Sooba’s appointment as Town Clerk, saying that former Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud did not have the lawful authority to appoint anyone. Justice Chang, however, had also said that King’s suit did not challenge Sooba’s authority as the appointee of the minister to the office but rather the decision of the minister in appointing her to that office. Further, Justice Chang had said that his decision did not prevent Sooba from continuing to perform the functions of Town Clerk as the “de facto” Town Clerk since a direct challenge was needed to bring her de facto tenure to an end. As a result, King subsequently filed the challenge.
Green also mentioned the delay in the appointment of the Local Government Service Commission and withholding of local government elections as he painted a dark picture of Guyana’s current state of affairs.
