The city’s Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore is tipped to be elected Mayor of Georgetown today, multiple sources close to APNU have told this newspaper.
Councillors will today vote for the next Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of George-town. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has 19 seats and the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic, 11.
Notice of the election was sent out by the Town Clerk, Candace Nelson inviting those elected and selected to serve on the council following the June 12th Local Government Elections.
It was explained that the meeting falls under section 12(1) of the Municipal and District Councils Act.
This year’s election will take place at the rehabilitated Kitty Market Confer-ence Room at 9 am. The traditional venue, City Hall is undergoing major repairs.
Mentore when contacted yesterday by Stabroek News said he will accept the nomination and once elected he will strive to do his best.
In an interview earlier this week, he said “I will always be a representative of the people. They have put their trust in me and I plan to give solid representation to my constituency and all those who might have been led astray.”
Mentore had told Stabroek News when he entered the realm of local government politics in 2016, “I feel I can make a difference for my constituency today and the various constituencies in Georgetown in particular.”
Mentore, who lost in the constituency elections on June 12 is returning to the council by virtue of being on the party’s proportional representation list. He believes his leadership knowledge is an asset to the council.
Shaking off his narrow loss at the elections to the PPP/C’s constituency candidate Alfonso De Armas-Archbold, Mentore said he was satisfied with his performance on the campaign trail.
In his view the defeat was not significant as the margin was small and it was simply because his PPP/C opponent had the resources to “give him the edge”.
“I would say I ran an extremely good campaign with the resources I had. The PPP/C had more resources and ran a decent campaign but when you look at 2018 and now I managed to increase my votes by an estimated 50 percent. The votes increas-ed by 300…,” Mentore underscored.
Sources have told Stabroek News that Chair-man of the Georgetown PNCR District, Troy Garraway has also been floated as a possible mayoral candidate. However, Garraway when contacted told Stabroek News he will not be accepting nomination to the post. He said the party has made a collective decision on a councillor and he is supporting that choice.
Kibwe Komota Cope-land, the elected councillor from South Ruimveldt, whose name has also been mentioned for mayorship says he is prepared to accept nomination to the post.
“Tomorrow after swearing in then I will know of any such nomination. At this time I don’t but yes I am prepared to accept a nomination if it is made,” he told Stabroek News in a telephone interview.
Denise Miller, who is on APNU’s Proportional Representation list, is being tipped as the next deputy mayor.
Also of interest today would be whether APNU votes in favour of PPP/C councillors for the key finance committee.
Former mayor Pat Chase-Green, who is now on the PPP/C slate will be returning to the council and will be joined by jeweller and businessman Steven Jacobs for the PPP/C and former Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Lelon Saul, who represents APNU.
The council comprises 15 persons who won First-Past-the-Post election in their respective constituencies and 15 persons extracted from the proportional representation lists.
