Following a warning issued to the Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine, from the Prime Minister (PM) Mark Phillips, the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) have since responded, expressing their dissatisfaction at being blamed for the incompetence of the City Engineer and the uncooperativeness of the government.
The council in a press release yesterday stated that they have “no confidence” in the City Engineer, Colvern Venture, due to a series of tasks he failed to carry out as it pertains to serving the people of the City.
In addition, a letter of termination was served to Venture sometime last year and the council is awaiting the final decision of the Local Government Commission (LGC). As such, they are urging the PM to seek an immediate response from the LGC so that all the alleged “nonchalant approaches” he cited to issues of the city can be resolved.
Moreover, the release contended that due to the taxes owed by some governmental agencies which would contribute to ensuring “consistent service is given to the citizens of Georgetown,” they lack many essential resources.
It was further noted that a few of those agencies are also practicing “illegal construction.” Such works are said to be currently ongoing along Camp Street, in front of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) head office without consultation with the engineers of the municipality.
The M&CC is calling for substantial collaboration with the government, and for the Minister of Local Government to review the policies which were presented to him some time ago. Those policies had included, building codes and littering bylaws which are yet to be analyzed and amended by the minister.
On Monday night, the PM issued a warning to Narine, lambasting him over the poor management of the city pumps after impromptu visits were made around the city last Sunday where many infractions were observed.
During these checks, the North Ruim-veldt pump which drains areas including Alexander Village and North Ruimveldt was turned off, resulting in flooding from heavy rainfall over a 24-hour period.
In a statement, Phillips added that pumps at Church, Cowan and Lamaha streets, Georgetown and Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara were unattended by operators.
Phillips, in the statement said, “These actions by the M&CC demonstrate clear dereliction of duty to the citizens of Georgetown, whom they were elected to serve. I strongly believe that this untold suffering thousands of residents are made to face yet again are as a direct result of the M&CC’s laxity with managing the affairs of the city and the unconscionable, unabated political gamesmanship from the mayor, which needs to end now.”
Since the M&CC release did not address the accusations concerning the pumps, Stabroek News tried to contact the Mayor for his response on the matter, but calls to his phone yesterday went unanswered.
