The new Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Georgetown are to be elected on Friday by the new 30-member city council.
The men and women making up the new council after the recently concluded local government elections will represent Guyana’s two main political groupings, the governing APNU+AFC coalition and the PPP/C, as well as two recently formed voluntary groups.
Of the 15 councillors elected through the First-Past-The-Post system, the ruling APNU+AFC coalition has secured 14 seats, while voluntary group Team Legacy has one seat that was won by Malcolm Ferreira. The proportional representation seats are also dominated by the ruling coalition, which has secured 11 of the 15 seats, with the other four shared among the PPP/C, which has two, Team Legacy, which has one, and Team Benschop for Mayor, which also has one.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Town Clerk Royston King explained that in keeping with the Municipal and District Councils Act, a meeting has been called to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Section 12 (1) of the Act states that no later than the tenth day after the results of local government elections are declared, the Town Clerk shall call a meeting for the purpose of the election of a Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
“In keeping with section 12(2) of 28:01, City Hall has written to the newly elected councillors informing them that at 2pm on Friday April 1, 2016 a meeting will be held in the council chambers to elect the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Members of the council’s Finance Committee,” King said.
Since the conclusion of the March 18 elections, speculation has abounded about who will be elected Mayor. AFC member Sherod Duncan, former Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke have all been identified as likely contenders for Mayor and Deputy Mayor, with other coalition councillors expressing their willingness to serve if nominated.
When Stabroek News spoke with the voluntary groups, Team Legacy seemed unwilling to enter the fray, while Team Benschop is looking to see its candidate considered for the post of Deputy Mayor.
According to Ferreira, of Team Legacy, he and fellow councillor Carolyn Murray understand that they are dealing with a council where 25 seats out of 30 seats belong to one coalition.
“While our votes do matter because they represent those citizens who put their trust in us to represent them, I don’t know how much of a difference it will make. It is difficult to see how our two votes will sway anything if the coalition nominates one candidate for each post. If there are more than one candidate each, well then we’ll see how it will play out,” he said.
Mark Benschop, of Team Benschop for Mayor, has said that he would love for its candidate to be considered for Deputy Mayor. “If the coalition takes the mayorship, we would love to see our councillor voted Deputy Mayor.
The president has spoken of a working relationship and unity. If they really want to see that let’s start at the local government level,” he said.
Meanwhile, the questions of a unified working relationship among the main components of the APNU+AFC coalition came in for questioning over the weekend when it was reported that AFC members raised concerns that they have been “shortchanged” and “unfairly treated” in the allocation of seats in municipalities that the coalition won at the polls.
While President David Granger has said that he will be meeting with leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday to discuss the matter, the coalition’s list of 11 proportional representation councillors has already been finalised. The 11 seats will be taken by Heston Boswick, Noelle Chow-Chee, Oscar Clarke, Welton Chase, Yvonne Ferguson, Linda Haley, Ivelaw Henry, Desiree Liverpool, Andrea Marks, Trichria Richards and Phillip Smith.
