President Irfaan Ali has lashed out against the claim made by Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine that he is starving the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of resources.
In a riposte, the president yesterday, in a release from his office, stated that the government has no intention of allowing itself to be used as a scapegoat when the M&CC fails in fulfilling its responsibility and mandate.
“Let me be very clear, this Government cares tremendously about our city, but we will not allow ourselves to be used as a scapegoat in the city not fulfilling its responsibility and mandate or in the city converting everything into political opportunism or a political football. As President, we’re not going to allow the Mayor to get away with a statement like this,” Ali asserted.
The president countered that the city is not fulfilling its responsibilities in the maintenance of the environment and its infrastructure and drainage, but in spite of this, central government has embarked on a “massive programme” to clean the city, to clean and maintain the roadways, establish roundabouts, and maintain drainage.
“We have invested in pumps to ensure, as far as possible, we have improved the drainage situation in the city to prevent flooding. These are the necessary investments because as a Government the city reflects who we are as a country too. But the mismanagement of the City Council cannot be passed on to Central Government. And we have to address this; we have to address this honestly,” he declared. Ali also pointed to an “array of programmes” already implemented to engage communities in the cleaning-up of various wards in the city, including South Georgetown, Sophia and Albouystown. He charged the city council with failing in its responsibilities “and every time they fail the people of the city, they try to pass the buck on or pass the burden on.”
Central Government has a responsibility, the president re-minded, to ensure that resources are spent for what they are budgeted for and to ensure that there is accountability and transparency and referenced the law in this regard. “In accordance with Section 177 of Chapter 28:01 of the Laws of Guyana, the Council is required to prepare accounts yearly and submit same for audit no later than four months after the end of the year. The Mayor and City Councillors of George-town has breached this provision and continues to do so.” In addition a number of other failings were also highlighted.
In 2004, in the last audited financial statement, a disclaimer of opinion was issued by the Auditor General (a disclaimer is where the information submitted cannot stand up to scrutiny). In 2005, again a disclaimer opinion was issued and from 2006 to 2011, no financial statements were submitted. From 2012 to 2015, financial statements were submitted but the information required could not have allowed auditors to express an opinion; 2016 to 2020, again, no financial statements were submitted for the period. And in 2019, following an investigation of the M&CC, several discrepancies were revealed and reported to the Audit Office. These include: failure to remit workers’ National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions, failure to remit workers Credit Union contributions, failure to remit Guyana Revenue Authority Pay as You Earn (P.A.Y.E) deductions from workers, failure to effect payment of retirement benefits (gratuity) to a number of workers, issues surrounding the number of contracts in keeping with financial regulations, transparency, and accountability, waiver of rates and taxes, rental of wharf facilities and the granting of leases.
And if these weren’t enough, Ali added that as recent as March of 2021, a special audit commenced, and again similar issues were uncovered with regards to the NIS, GRA, and monies not paid over.
“All of these were issues highlighted, where transparency, accountability and clear violations and breaches we found, yet, Central Government continues to transfer resources to the city. But how long must we, as a people, and as a Government allow this blatant disregard for transparency and accountability, this blatant disregard for the rules and laws governing the financial accountability of the Mayor and City Council? There must come a time when things will come to a head and these things have to be fixed. We cannot continue this level of mismanagement,” the Head of State contended.
He reiterated that while his government wants “nothing short of an excellent relationship with the city”, it will not be blamed for the City’s mismanagement nor will it disregard all of these discrepancies over the years and continue to transfer money “blindly” knowing of all of the irregularities.
Ali made it clear that his government seeks a partnership for the development of the city but cannot allow the M&CC to shirk its responsibilities adding, “We will not allow the Central Government to be used as a political football. Notwithstanding all of this, we are moving forward with a plan and programme to improve the welfare, well-being, living conditions, and standard of the people of the city and those who use the city and we are sparing no resources in achieving this.”
The President added too that the Government is fully committed to ensuring that the decrepit City Hall is restored. “That is a project we have budgeted resources for in the budget and we are going to work on implementing,” the release added.
