Dear Editor,
In Georgetown, citizens are witnessing a sad and worrying contradiction of democratic values. At the last Local Government Elections, held June 12, 2023, Mr. Alfred Mentore, candidate for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was defeated in his constituency # 4 with 937 votes, by the candidate for People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Mr. Alfonso De Armas-Archbold with 968 votes. Mr. Troy Gordon Garraway, candidate for the APNU, not only won his constituency # 12, but got the highest number of votes [in excess of 2500] among all the candidates at those elections.
However, last Thursday, 6th of July, 2023, at the first siting of the Georgetown City Council, by strict party instruction, Mr. Mentore was made Mayor of Georgetown. Incredibly unbelievable, Mr. Troy Gordon Garraway, who won his constituency #12, with over 2000 votes, and got the highest number of votes among the current group of Councillors, in Georgetown was not even given the opportunity to be Deputy Mayor, let alone, Mayor. Moreover, Mr. Garraway is Chairman of the Georgetown District for his party. One would have thought that that position along with his performance at the local polls would have qualified him for the position of Mayor. Regrettably, that was not the case. If, as it appears to be the case, that Mr. Garraway is not good enough to be Mayor of Georgetown then why make him the chairman, and a Councillor, of Georgetown?
Mr. Mentore has been in the council for more than five long years. And yet, he cannot point to one solid community project he has done in his constituency or any other part of the city during that time; no wonder he was beaten by Mr. Armas-Archbold. But he is now the Mayor. How embarrassing? Thanks to party politics.
The circumstances by which he was selected Mayor presents him with a disability to command public respect, and trust because the people never voted for him to be in the council in the first place. Undoubtedly, this would undermine not only the authority of, but also any effort by, the council to improve condition in communities.
What is worrying is the apparent lack of fight for fairness by members of the Central Executive Committee [CEC]. There seems to be a collective complacency, on the part of party members, to secure the integrity of the party, through transparency and accountability. This move by APNU has already created a democratic deficit in the city. The people’s representatives – the City Councillors – are led by an individual, Mr. Alfred Mentore – that was not elected by the people, in his own constituency and by extension Georgetown. More importantly, it brings to the fore, a fundamental question: what are the criteria for one to be elected Mayor of the City? Whatever the answer, by this political arrangement [bringing Mr. Mentore into the council through the back door] the leadership of the APNU has set the bar so low that it simply disqualifies that party form national leadership.
Beyond that, it does appear as though the party has learned nothing from its recent past. It was this same party behaviour [forsaking hard- working party comrades for friends and strangers] that led to the great fall of APNU under President David Granger.
Yours truly,
(Name and address supplied)
