Jaikarran gives up markets committee chair over lack of cooperation from City Hall

Former Deputy Mayor Lionel Jaikarran has resigned from the post as Chairman of the municipality’s Markets and Public Health Committee.

Jaikarran, an APNU+AFC councillor, confirmed his resignation last night and said he decided to resign due to a lack of cooperation from the council’s administrative body.

“I resigned because I realised that there was nothing I as the Chairman could do to possibly make a difference when the entire system is stacked against you. It is like banging your head repeatedly against a reinforced concrete wall,” he told Stabroek News.

Jaikarran declined to go into further details.

He tendered his resignation on Wednesday.

In his resignation letter to the Mayor, which was seen by this newspaper, Jaikarran said the “office of the Chair of the Markets and Public Health Committee requires a certain level of cooperation from the Administration of the City Council to properly carry out its functions and I do not believe that my Committee and I enjoy the required level.”

Jaikarran, as Chairman of the committee, was tasked with presenting to the council a street vending policy and recommendations on suitable areas for the relocation of vendors from the Stabroek Wharf. 

However, at last Monday’s statutory council meeting, concerns were raised by Mayor Patricia Chase-Green about the delay of the policy. Town Clerk Royston King echoed her concerns and noted that there is a need for an updated policy to address the vending situation in the city.