Elections for the Mayor of Georgetown will be held on Thursday December, 15.
A notice seen by Stabroek News says, “Please be advised that a special meeting of councilors will be convened on Thursday December 15, 2016 at 14:00 Hours, In the Council Chamber for the purpose of electing the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Municipality of Georgetown, for the ensuing year.”
This is in accordance with the Local Government Act and the Municipal and District Councils Act. Annual elections are held for the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan, earlier in the month, officially expressed his intention of contesting for the seat at the head of the horseshoe table. He had also indicated that he had the full support of both his political party – the Alliance for Change (AFC) and his Constituency.
At the historic local government elections in March, Duncan won the hotly contested Constituency 14 (South Ruimveldt Park/ Ruimveldt Industrial Site) First-Past-The-Post seat. He was elected Deputy Mayor on April 1. He has however spent much of the time since in conflict with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green though they both represent the ruling APNU+AFC coalition.
Three months into their tenure, Duncan and several other councillors began asking questions about the legitimacy of a parking meter contract between the city and National Parking Systems/Smart City Solutions (NPS/SCS)
In May, Chase-Green had announced to the council that a proposal from NPS/SCS to construct and operate a parking platform had been approved, the contract signed and the project in the first stages of implementation. She did not, however, provide councillors with a copy of the contract nor an explanation of the terms of the agreement between NPS/SCS and the council.
The Mayor had claimed that the proposal had been approved in November last year by the previous council.
Since that time the contract has been reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General’s Chambers. A recommended renegotiation was realized and the project is set to take off in the coming weeks.
There are however still those, including Duncan, who are calling for the contract to be rescinded since it failed to comply with the national procurement legislation. He had explained that when he had contested at the Local Government Elections it was because he wanted to improve the city for the next generation but it has been heading in the wrong direction in the last few months.
