A statutory meeting of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) was on Monday aborted after a standoff between some city councillors and recently appointed Interim Town Clerk Candace Nelson, who was served with notice of a legal challenge to her appointment.
At the statutory meeting, held at the Kitty Market Hall, Mayor Ubraj Narine asked that Nelson vacate the Town Clerk’s chair and allow the acting Deputy Town Clerk, Julian Orgista, to take over, in order to address the business of the council.
He cited a matter before the court and Nelson was later served.
Stabroek News was told that legal proceedings had been filed to challenge the Local Government Commission’s appointment of Nelson. This newspaper was, however, unable to determine who initiated the proceedings.
As he had during the preceding two weeks, Narine yesterday said that the council did not recognise Nelson but vowed to respect the outcome of the court hearing.
However, Nelson refused to budge, while stating that the council could not nominate someone to sit in the Town Clerk’s chair since that was the duty of the Town Clerk.
The standoff ground the proceedings to a standstill as Narine made at least a dozen requests for Nelson to vacate the Town Clerk’s chair.
Her delay, he argued, prevented the council from carrying out its statutory meeting and, more importantly, the business of the citizens of Georgetown.
With Nelson refusing to move, Narine asked the acting Chief Constable to remove her. When he attempted to do so, she instructed him to stand down. A female rank who was also asked to escort Nelson out was also instructed by Nelson to stand down.
After both failed attempts, the Council by a majority vote decided to adjourn the meeting.
Narine subsequently said the meeting was adjourned because of a “burden and an obstacle” placed on the Council.
He added that the council will not accept any form of disrespect from that “obstacle” that was placed to disrupt the peace and work of the council.
Narine lamented that the Council appeared to be heading towards dark days as he said history was repeating itself. He further said that he was unsure as to when the Local Government Commission and the Central Government will stop interfering with the development of the city.
Nelson was appointed two weeks ago by Local Government Commission Chairman Julius Faerber acting in concert with Deputy Commissioner Norman Whittaker.
Meanwhile, several vendors and supporters of the APNU-led Council stood outside the market chanting “No Interim Town Clerk” as they too agreed with the Mayor and several councillors that Nelson be removed. Some of them protested several persons who they confused for Nelson.
