Members of the City Council have expressed concern that work being conducted in the city is being developed and implemented without their knowledge or approval.
Councillor Eon Andrews, who is a member of the Finance, City Works and Legal Affairs committees challenged the city administration led by Town Clerk Royston King, at yesterday’s statutory meeting, to be make sure that all efforts are subject to the checks and balances afforded by the committees.
Admitting that none of these important committees have met since mid-August, Andrews said that while it appears that good things are being done in the city, councillors are unaware of the volume of work being pursued and what the work is costing the council.
Andrews stressed that these committees should know what is going on even if it calls for the members to make themselves available for an emergency meeting so as to approve the expenditure.
Though the works in the city appear to be for the good of its citizens, Andrews said officers such as the Town Clerk must exercise their power with an accompaniment of some kind of control and order that comes from the committees.
“All is not well in this city. We had an administration here for 23 years where we were beaten and battered. A lot of things from that administration trickled down to this council and it is here with us. We need to use our committees to ensure that this coalition is not embarrassed, which they will be if we don’t utilize the checks and balances of the committee,” Andrews declared.
Andrews affirmed that he will support nothing that comes to him through a “fancy speech” as he will support only facts and these must come to the committee for discussion and approval.
“… I will support necessary programmes but we must be told. We must be made to understand what is going on. I will not sit here and allow the tail to wag the dog,” he said.
There is a rift between the council and the Town Clerk stemming from a decision made by King to demolish two concrete walls constructed on a section of the Merriman Mall by the Pan-African Movement.
Andrews stressed that if King had brought the matter to the attention of the committee then steps could’ve been taken to alert the movement so that it could take the necessary action.
Pandemonium erupted when Andrews declared that in other countries “people would’ve been murdered for that. You don’t trouble people’s ancestral things.”
Even as Chase-Green called on Andrews to withdraw his “harsh words,” King declared that he would not sit there and allow Andrews to “issue those words” which he viewed as “a threat.”
A heated exchange ensued with both Andrews and King attempting to speak over the chair who demanded that Andrews withdraw his statement.
Andrew eventually withdrew the comment even as he declared that he was “not afraid to take on anybody as long as they transgress the rules and laws of this country and council.”