Dear Editor,
Today (Thursday, December 15) Georgetown City Councillors are set to vote for a new mayor and deputy mayor. What we (Team Benschop) have argued for, is a new system to have our mayors elected directly by the voters, and not by a handful of councillors.
Surely, this would allow the mayor to appoint his/her own deputy mayor and other officers to manage the affairs of the city.
We have also called for the removal of the position of Town Clerk (currently held by the controversial and incompetent Royston King) and have the responsibilities placed in the hands of the mayor (who ought to be the real CEO of the city) and other elected city officials.
We have also called for our city to be managed by city officials, without being heavily influenced by those in the executive branch of government, and for immediate amendments to some extremely antiquated city laws set out in Chapter 28:01.
That said, with the current make-up of the council it’s more like a recipe for continued disaster together with a selfish power struggle within. This is especially so with the control of central government and the presence of old-time players who have no understanding of democracy, along with a few others whose only focus is to sit in the mayor’s chair for the sole purpose of becoming Mayah.
Hopefully, today citizens will see a change in the pattern of voting around the horseshoe table, and a different system for the future. Meanwhile, we (Team Benschop) are calling on councillors of the ruling parties and opposition members to support our councillor, Selwyn Odavo Smartt, for the position of Deputy Mayor. At least, it’s a start for the betterment of all the residents of Georgetown, and a proper and timely recipe for power-sharing at the local government level.
Finally, we have noticed the sudden call for a secret ballot for councillors to vote.
Again, that is something that we advocated during the time when certain band-waggonists were out chastising us and were happy with the way things were.
However, we are elated that those who were against it, now see its importance.
Yours faithfully,
Mark A Benschop
Team Benschop
