Dear Editor,
Ronson Gray, Campaign Manager of Team Benschop for Mayor raised a matter that should concern this country (‘Why was the public not consulted over the provision of house lots for City Hall workers?’ SN, Jan 22). The Mayor & City Council is benefiting selected individuals by offering them land owned by the people of Guyana but under the jurisdiction of the M&CC. In every developed nation, governments at any level are prevented from engaging in any initiatives of this nature just before an election. Furthermore, this is an administration sitting at City Hall that has been in power due to undemocratic subterfuge delaying local government elections for more than a decade.
This is against the constitutional requirements for good governance. This is exactly the kind of practice this current government condemned in opposition just before the May 2015 general election. This government said it would review such pre-election acts by the PPP. Now, we are getting silence from the central government in response to this matter. This move should be stopped by the central government.
If it isn’t, it will feed the growing perception that different folks are playing by different rules. Even if disposal of land was allowed in this pre-election period (morally it isn’t), wouldn’t taxpayers benefit more from the sale of these lands at market value to generate revenue for an organization which cannot pay its bills? How does a bankrupt entity justify using taxpayers’ money to fund homes for some of its workers? Isn’t this the same thing the PPP was pilloried for? This is not a decision made in the public and municipality’s interest. From any cost-benefit analysis and in consideration of the economics involved, this is an untenable decision. President Granger and his men would be allowing a travesty to unfold if they do nothing to prevent this.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
