Dear Editor,
For some time now, residents and educational institutions have been calling me as Mayor, seeking relief related to problems they face; the most prevalent is the removal of heaps of ugly, unhealthy garbage.
On each and every occasion when I ask the Solid Waste Department to respond, for days on end they fail, because of a lack of resources.
In brief, the Solid Waste Department has no vehicles to move the garbage. In spite of instructions from the city council, the Town Clerk has refused to pay certain private contractors and has refused to employ again, in spite of instructions, the two contractors, Cevons and Dartmouth.
This matter was drawn to the attention of the Town Clerk, Ms Carol Sooba; the full council made decisions and passed resolutions to ease the situation, but for reasons which are beyond understanding, a preposterous situation continues, whereby Ms. Sooba ignores the Mayor and Councillors, clearly with the support or encouragement of the Minister and government. Recall that a Minister of Local Government stated he would welcome a health crisis in the city. The victims would be citizens who deserve better treatment.
Recent statements from the Minister of Local Government and other top brass suggest that the government is in no hurry to facilitate local government elections – a great pity – so we will be suffocated by an unqualified, strange person who is allowed to continue along the same path.
What makes it ludicrous is that the duly elected Mayor represents 73% of the voters in Georgetown, but because of the attitude and policy of the government, the Minister (27%) rules the city, aided by an officer so unqualified that she cannot perform at a basic level. Why the President is allowing this is a matter of grave concern.
May I ask citizens who face garbage and similar problems to call from now on, Minister Norman Whittaker, since it is he who directs and supports this Town Clerk and, in spite of two motions of no confidence seeking her removal, has installed the lady – the least qualified of the applicants who applied for the post – and has kept her there to continue the debasement of Georgetown.
We will issue citizens with the Minister’s phone numbers if necessary.
All this could only happen in Guyana.
The ball is in the citizens’ court.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
Mayor
