Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine has called on City Engineer Colvern Venture to resign if he is unable to execute his duties and represent the best interest of the city and citizens.
“He needs to work for the interest of the people and not himself…,” Narine said yesterday during a press conference called to address Venture’s rebuttal to comments made by him at the last statutory meeting.
At that meeting, Narine complained of the Chief City Engineer’s untimely response to correspondences sent from his office.
The Mayor had stated that about six months ago he sent a letter, in which he requested from Venture a report to be forwarded to the Chinese ambassador, who wanted to “engage the city.”
Venture however, had told Stabroek News that the claims made by the Mayor during the statutory meeting were inaccurate. He explained that he did not receive a letter from the Mayor six months ago; instead, he said he only received the letter on May 13th, 2019. He noted that the correspondence he received was seeking information regarding a visit to China in 2017, involving a delegation which included him, former Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and then Town Clerk Royston King.
Narine, however, noted that Venture responded to him through the office of the Town Clerk and he only received it on June 21st.
“He did submit it—it was backdated…these letters got the 21st. He said he sent it to me through the Town Clerk… Can I be a dreamer to know the letter is at the Town Clerk office? If I write you, you ought to send that correspondence directly to me. I don’t mind if you copy it to others because I would do that,” Narine said.
According to him, there are many issues to be addressed by the City Engineer’s Department but under Venture’s management it is failing to execute its duties.
“Mr Venture ought to know there [are] a hundred things in the city that went wrong under his watch. There are more than a hundred things that went wrong and I can go in the fields and point it out,” the mayor stressed.
He noted that three weeks ago he asked the City Engineer’s Department to send a notice to a property owner who is building on a section of a road but to date that matter is still to be resolved.
“There is a building in my constituency that came out on the road. I asked—it is three weeks now—to have a notice sent to him [the owner]…. When I ask, he said he signed it off but inspector failed to address it to the relevant people,” Narine pointed out.
The mayor also pointed out a situation in Sandy Babb Street, Kitty involving derelict vehicles, which he had asked the Engineer’s Department to address. “We are here to create policies and bylaws, not micromanage… we are not going to put up with any… chaos that [the] administration is going to put council in… Not this Mayor… I will not tolerate it,” he stressed.
Additionally, the Mayor noted that he would also be writing a complaint to the Local Government Commission to record his dissatisfaction with the performance of the City Engineer.
Contacted last night for comment on the issue, Venture said he would refrain from commenting at the moment.
Venture, addressing the report on the China trip requested by the Mayor, had previously explained that a report was done at the full council so whatever agreement between the Mayor in Suzhou and the Mayor in Guyana… the information would have been with the Mayor’s office and also with the office of the Town Clerk. Whatever discussions or whatever MoUs have been signed, the office of the Town Clerk will have copies… I don’t see how a report from me would stall a discussion with the Chinese ambassador when we could have simply gone back to those minutes of the meetings and pick up from there what was happening,” he had said.
Meanwhile, Narine said he was not pleased with the quality of service delivered by the city administration as decisions made by the council were not being executed.
Narine stated that he viewed management as an important factor in being able to serve the citizens and it was his vision to see an efficient city administration.
“…Management in terms of the administration is very poor and I want to see better management at the level of each department of the Mayor and City Council…We want to see change in this city… this is the seventh month of the year and it will not be easy… officers need to work for the interest of the people and the city,” he emphasised.
Also addressing the issue, Councillor Dawn Stewart, who was also present at the press conference, said that from her observations over the last six months, the administration lacks the skills of management.
“We as a council take a decision but we cannot see no conclusion and there is nobody to discipline [the officers]. There is a need for an organisational change… Priorities needs to be identified and addressed but it seems like if we have a rum shop operation here,” Stewart said.
When contacted, acting Town Clerk Sharon Harry-Munroe said under her administration she and her officers manage the business of the city to “the best as we could, given the circumstances we work under.”
She stressed, “We are heavily indebted to many persons but I have made sure that staff are paid on time and we still have money to reach other obligations…if we couldn’t have managed our resources, we wouldn’t have been able to stick to our obligations.”
