-Town Clerk clashes with City Mayor
The Ministry of Local Government yesterday denied a claim by the Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore that it was involved in the removal of vendors on Sunday from outside Demico House and the Discount Store.
Support for the ministry’s position has also come from Town Clerk Candace Nelson, underlining the rift between her and the Chief Citizen.
In yesterday’s report in Stabroek News on the removal of the vendors, Mentore was reported as saying: “The advice that was given to me by the Town Clerk [was] that she was getting the Ministry of Local Government to assist in dealing with clearing up of the bazaar to restore it,… but then it turn out that they remove the people from the Discount Store who had to be removed anyway,” he said.
Mentore added: “This blind-sided action by the Town Clerk in collaboration with the Minister of Local Government to clear this area by the 30th without notice is concerning especially when the whole council knew that the help was for the Bazaar not the Demico House.”
The ministry rejected Mentore’s version. In a statement, it said: “The Ministry wishes to categorically state that it played no part in the exercise to remove those vendors. This was as a result of legal proceedings and had no input from the Ministry, as was claimed in the article by the Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore.
“At no time was there any communication between the Mayor and City Council and the (ministry) on this matter. The mayor’s comments were clearly devoid of facts and aimed at misleading the nation and creating mischief.
“It is quite regrettable that Stabroek News failed to reach out to the (ministry) before going to press with this article.”
Following the ministry’s statement, Nelson issued her own which also took aim at the mayor.
“I wish to state that the enforcement of the Court Orders which was executed on Sunday, April 28, 2024 was solely executed by employees of the City Engineer’s Department of the Council and led by the City Engineer, Mr. Colvern Venture, with support from the City Constabulary and the Guyana Police Force. At no material time was the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development or any employee of that ministry a part of that exercise. Further, there was no discussion on enforcing the Court Orders with anyone from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development by me”, she said.
On the day of the court ruling, she said a letter (which she enclosed) was dispatched to the Mayor informing him of the ruling of the court, the brief discussion held between her and the Attorney representing Banks DIH Limited, and the need for an urgent meeting to address street vending. She said that she did not receive a response to this missive.
“Due to the unfortunate collapse of the roof of the Stabroek Market Wharf (on April 17), I called the Mayor and urged him once again to have an urgent meeting to discuss this incident and the approach to street vending and the removal/relocation of vendors. This meeting was held on April 18, 2024. Among the discussions raised at this meeting were the matter of the mandamuses and other correspondences received by me, from businesses, for the removal of vendors around their premises. However, there was no precise decision of the Council about the vendors around Demico House, the Discount Store, or any of the other correspondences requesting the Council to act on the removal of vendors”, she said.
Notices dated April 8, 2024, were issued to the vendors around Demico House and Discount Store requesting their immediate removal. While efforts were made by a few to comply with the notice, others remained at the locations. Nelson said that a final notice was issued on April 24, 2024, by the City Engineer for the immediate removal of all encumbrances from the two locations. At no time were the vendors given until April 30, 2024, to vacate the area nor did the Court Order give a date of April 30, 2024, for the vendors’ removal as claimed by the Mayor, Nelson asserted.
On Friday, April 26, 2024, she said that the Mayor, via the Council’s WhatsApp group, queried about a cleaning exercise in the Stabroek Market Bazaar.
“I responded that assistance would be provided by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development to clean the internal drains within the Stabroek Market. A section of this conversation was posted by the Mayor on his Facebook page. At no time was there any discussion about the Ministry cleaning the Bazaar to restore the vendors. Therefore, I find all of the Mayor’s utterances about the vendors operating in the Bazaar and the removal of the vendors from the two locations mentioned above quite misleading and malicious.
“It must be noted that the Administration of the Council was merely executing the orders of the High Court and was never involved in the process of blind-siding anyone. Further, it is important to note that whilst the Administration awaits a plan from the Full Council to address the issue of street vending, any order of the Court takes precedence”, Nelson added.
