Dear Editor,
Your online news article, ‘Ifa Kamau Cush fired by SCSI,’ (February16), can be characterized as the rise and fall of the used, confused, accused and ultimately refused. Like most Guyanese, at home and abroad, who read or heard around the middle of last year that an overseas-based Guyanese was looking to set up a parking meter system in Georgetown with benefits for the Georgetown City Council’s coffers, I thought this was an idea worth considering.
Regrettably, the sequence of events that followed since the announcement leading up to Mr Cush being replaced by an American businessman to street protests and now the firing of Mr Cush from the company that now runs the parking meters system, raises more questions than answers many are still seeking.
Discussions on this parking meters deal commenced in November 2015 by Town Clerk Royston King, who replaced Carol Sooba in July 2015, but the deal was not signed off on until May 20, 2016 (‘City inks deal for parking meters -despite prior contract with different firm,’ SN, May 27, 2016). By June 2016, the name Ifa Kamau Cush became pronouncedly associated with the parking meters deal and, over time, a US$10M figure was being tossed about as the amount already committed to the project.
On June 21, 2016, KN reported, ‘Controversial parking meters deal…Contract signed before Mexico’s due diligence trip,’ in which it was revealed that four city council officials ‒ Mayor Patricia Chase-Green; Town Clerk, Royston King; Head of the Finance Committee, Oscar Clarke; Finance Committee member, Junior Garrett – visited Mexico and Panama and had their air fares and hotel costs paid for by the investor.
During their trip, Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan became the embodiment of frustration and anger in the city council over their lack of knowledge of the trip and even information about the parking meters deal. And after returning to Guyana, Mayor Chase-Green made matters worse by informing councillors if they (or anyone) wanted to peruse the documents, they could do so by visiting the Town Clerk’s office because the documents would not be available in the council chamber.
On June 23, 2016, Internet news outlet, Demerara waves, reported (‘Granger: Parking fees “burdensome; weighs in on transparency at City Hall’) that President David Granger described the deal as “burdensome”, adding, the President even promised to have the Minister of Communities examine the contract and the conditions under which the agreement has been made, while Minister of Finance Winston Jordan and Attorney General Basil Williams will also conduct a review to determine whether there were any illegalities.
On August 6, 2016, SN reported, ‘Finance Ministry review skewers parking meters deal -secret contract allows for wide tax exemptions, backdoor businesses,’ in which the ministry submitted a report that was scathingly critical of the controversial parking meters deal for the city, and said since government procurement rules may have been transgressed this would justify a revoking of the contract and a fresh process.
But despite all the government’s apparent disagreement with the deal, the same government gave the Mayor and her supporting cast the green light to proceed with the parking meters plan. This about face would result in the growing public protest, which runs the risk of becoming political currency for the PPP, but really deserves to result in cancellation of the deal.
The percolating suspicion, however, is that the deal was done in such secrecy that no one knows the exact process of how it came about, but it is now apparent that the investor drew up a plan that legally tied the hands of the Mayor and her supporting cast. The only way out is for a court to intervene in the best interest of the public.
In April 2013, according to Bloomberg News, Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel reached a parking meters settlement with Chicago Parking Meters LLC, a consortium owned in part by Morgan Stanley, over the terms of a 75-year lease agreed to by a former Chicago Mayor, Richard M Daley in December 2008. “When I was elected mayor, I said this was a bad deal, but promised to do everything I could to make improvements on behalf of the taxpayers of this city,” Emanuel said. “So, my administration fought to ensure not one tax dollar was paid that we didn’t need to pay.”
CPM actually paid the Chicago US$1.16B up front. But by 2013, revenue from parking meters was on such a rise that City Alderman Scott Waguespack said, “At some point you have to laugh at how much revenue they’re bringing in. At this rate the company will recoup their investment in just 10 years.” By the way, CPM pulled in US$131M in 2014.
While that is the kind of fight the citizens of Guyana expected of the President against this rather bad parking meters deal, it is worth noting that another major US city, New York City, owns and manages the parking meters system with 100% of the monies going to the city’s coffers. On this note, it would have made sense if the government had gone the route of selling bonds to raise money for a parking meters system owned and operated by the Georgetown City Council instead of an 80%-20% deal that benefits the foreign investor. And the fees do not need to be cost prohibitive to drivers.
I close by joining the choir of voices in opposing this deal, but I draw the line when the choir risks being hijacked by the PPP, because the Jagdeo led-PPP has done far worse with Guyana’s assets and natural resources ‘given away’ to foreign investors in secret and questionable deals that never really benefited Guyana or Guyanese.
Guyana does not belong to the PPP, PNC, AFC, APNU, Granger, Jagdeo or any person or group, and irate Guyanese should use this parking meters fiasco to launch a grass roots movement to send a message to any party or politician that the days of secret deals and corruption are over. Even if the coalition is booted in 2020, the replacement cannot be a Jagdeo-led PPP. Enough is enough!
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
