Region Six Chairman, David Armogan on Thursday strongly condemned the New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council for suspending councillor Carol Trim-Bagot as he said that they acted outside of the law and without a conscience.
The Mayor and Town Council of New Amsterdam on Monday decided to suspend the PPP/C Councillor over claims of disorderly conduct, however, Trim-Bagot is maintaining that the suspension is an orchestrated attack on her after she spoke out about financial irregularities at the level of the council.
Armogan at the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six statutory meeting pointed out that Trim-Bagot has said that she will be taking legal action and he is confident she will win and be reinstated.
According to him, Trim-Bagot has seemingly been asking a lot of questions about the finances at the council so in order to silence her they have acted in such a manner.
He stated that in all his years of being Regional Chairman he has never had the cause or saw the need to suspend anyone although over the years there were persons being disrespectful.
Armogan said that he has lost the respect which he once had for Mayor Wainright McIntosh who “acted really outside of the powers and without any conscience.”
“I think the Mayor who should have better sense, who I had some amount of respect for, and this is now lost, should have been able to temper that situation and maybe warn the councillor or if they feel that the councillor was doing something wrong, should have been able to speak to the councillor in private but to suspend the councillor for meetings, I wish as chairman of this meeting to condemn that.”
The matter was raised by the AFC Regional Councilor, Dereck Basdeo, who nodded his head in support as Armogan condemned the situation.
Armogan stressed, “People have a right to express what they feel is right, what they feel is wrong… Quoting all kind of flimsy laws… The problem is she is asking too many questions and they can’t answer it, that is the problem, the problem is that they have lots of money problem at that council and the lady has been trying to find out where all the money gone and they can’t account, they can’t answer the questions that she’s asking and as a result of that they decided to suspend her. It is wrong, completely wrong, we don’t do those things, we tolerate each other.”
McIntosh at a press conference on Tuesday addressed the suspension of Trim-Bagot and stated that the council decided to take decisive action by passing a motion to suspend her immediately.
This he said was done in accordance with the standing orders and rules of the council.
According to the Mayor, the motion for suspension was not taken lightly. He said it followed a pattern of behaviour exhibited by Trim-Bagot which was deemed unacceptable by her fellow councilors.
He said that over recent months, Trim-Bagot displayed a lack of respect to the Mayor and her fellow councillors which he said undermines the “collaborative spirit essential for good governance” and also threatens the work of the council.
Additionally, he said that the council is committed to upholding the highest standard of professionalism and it is imperative that all members of the council engage in collaborative efforts.
Her actions, he said have consistently disrupted this process leading to a breakdown in communication and cooperation among the council.
Trim-Bagot when contacted by Stabroek News had lashed out at the council as she said that it was an orchestrated attack to have her removed as she has been calling for a financial audit of the council as well as speaking out against noticeable irregularities.
She said that at no point was she disorderly during the meeting on Monday but rather she said the meeting was called and after the minutes they went right into the motion to suspend her.
The New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council has a total of 14 councillors, 6 PPP/C and 8 APNU+AFC.
According to Trim, there were six on each side on Monday when the verbal motion was brought against her with the “Mayor voting two times” to have her removed.
“He voted as a councillor and there was a tie so then he voted as Mayor and did a tie breaker.”
She noted too that she would be speaking to legal counsel to seek advice on her next move as she intends to fight the unjust suspension.
Calling for a financial audit which she stressed is necessary, Trim-Bagot said that she believes the council is only going after a certain group of people who are vending outside of the market on the roadways.
This she said is one of the issues she spoke out against, “when they are in the council and there are irregularities, no transparency I would stand up as a PPP councillor, so they best next thing was to use some of his power to suspend me which he did in the wrong way.”
In a statement on October 1st, the NA Town Council has said It was noteworthy that suspending a member is not new.
“The Guyana Parliament has suspended members for what it deemed to be misconduct. It is in a similar vein that this decision was taken. It must be underscored that the Council observed all the (tenets) of democracy when the motion was moved, and the chairman allowed for robust debate before putting the question to the Council who ultimately decided, that the Councillor consistently misconducted herself.
“We will continue to prioritize the interests of our community and work diligently to ensure that our Council operates in a manner that is respectful, productive, and focused on the needs of our constituents.”, the statement said.
