Hours after Region Four Regional Executive Officer (REO) Shafdar Alli accused him of “dictatorial behavior” Regional Chairman Clement Corlette said the accusations were baseless and malicious.

Chairman Corlette

In a press statement released from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Alli alleged that RDC Chairman Corlette “continued dictatorial behaviour will not go unchallenged”. According to Alli, the regional chairman “by all attempts tries to dominate meetings of the council and…take control of the Regional Administration, restrict, suppress and curtail” his [Alli’s] views. The REO also accused Corlette of attempting to rewrite the laws which govern the local government system.

These accusations stemmed from a council meeting on Monday where Corlette, Alli and other members of the Region Four RDC were present. While the press statement did not provide details on how Corlette displayed “dictatorial behavior” it indicated that the Regional Chairman “often comes into dispute with councilors including those on the PNC/R [People’s National Congress Reform] side of the RDC for disallowing their views that either differ or counter his”.

Corlette told Stabroek News yesterday that he had not seen a copy of the press statement issued by Alli through the Regional Information Officer Rajiv Bisnauth and would “not say much on the record” until he had.

“All I will tell you is those statements by the REO are malicious and they are not true…he is upset because I pointed out some of his shortcomings,” Corlette said.

Questioned about the “shortcomings” to which he referred Corlette again said he would explain after he’d seen a full copy of the statement issued yesterday.