Blaming the former APNU+AFC government for the controversial parking meter project which the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) failed in its attempt to implement across the city back in 2016, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC says that the US$100 million lawsuit now slapped against the PPP/C government by concessionaire Smart City Solutions (SCS), is demonstrative of the previous administration’s mismanagement.
He described the suit “inherited” by the PPP/C as onerous on the country’s economy and a financial burden on taxpayers to defend, stating; “…this is the type of destruction that the APNU+AFC left in its wake.”
The Attorney General (AG) made the disclosure of the lawsuit on Tuesday, in his weekly Facebook programme ‘Issues in the News,’ during which he informed that SCS has filed proceedings against the Government of Guyana through the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes based in Washington DC.
Lamenting what he noted would be pressure on the public coffers, Nandlall said attorneys would have to be hired in the United States to defend a contract that “they [APNU+AFC] entered into” which the government is now being sued for US$100 million as compensation.
“Now this is invaluable taxpayers’ dollars that we will have to now spend in defending a claim” while the APNU+AFC are “living their merry life,” he contended.
Nandlall said, “We all forgot about the parking meter project…but the Company…that was responsible has not forgotten.”
The AG is of the view that the former government has caused “multi-dimensional destruction” to the country’s economy and welfare of the people.
“They don’t have anything to do with this. They just wash their hands off of it. Left this burden with us to carry,” he remonstrated.
Initial implementation of the parking meters was followed by months of controversy which roiled the Council with the deal championed by then Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and then Town Clerk Royston King.
After protests and a widespread boycott of the parking meters, specifically against the fees which were seen by many as exorbitant, the then Ministry of Communities had put the project on hold to permit the city to undertake wider consultations.
During this period, a number of amendments were made to the deal, and then subject Minister Ronald Bulkan later sought to approve the By-Laws for metered parking in the city.
The Supreme Court, however, later quashed Bulkan’s approval, finding that he failed to follow the procedure mandated by the Municipal and District Councils Act, for bringing the By-Laws into force.
Then in opposition, the PPP/C had said it would not support the parking meter project under the contract M&CC signed with SCS. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at the time had said he believed the contract to be flawed.
Meanwhile, the stance of the APNU+AFC government at the time was that it would not act against the Georgetown City Council in its implementation of the project. Then Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said further that government was also not prepared to act against the Council for the By-laws it passed.
In a hands-off approach, he had said that government was committed to allowing the city council to govern unhindered
The city and APNU+AFC had been, however been flayed for pursuing the parking meters deal.
