Dear Editor
As a Lindener, I feel compelled to speak out at the current treatment of the Linden Mayor by a group of dysfunctional politicians. When news broke of Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland deciding not to seek a third term as Mayor, I found it strange that a man who has been doing well for Linden and all other municipalities as a matter of fact, would not seek to continue doing what he was doing.
Linden is a small community and everything that happens in the town spreads easily to every ear, and there is no secret about what took place in Linden involving the municipality. Several Lindeners including municipal staffers and some prominent citizens are of the belief that Holland is being forced out of office by the regional party leadership because of his stance against corruption in the mining town.
Holland’s announcement two Sundays ago was reportedly after meeting with PNC Party Chairman Basil Williams and Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan in the presence of several councillors, but despite the fact that he had already announced sometime in 2016 his intention to step down and allow his Deputy a chance to function at the helm, it is my firm belief that he is being forced to make an early exit because of the two powerful political personalities in Linden.
Despite the Mayor refusing to divulge any information on the internal rumblings, a very talkative, pompous, disrespectful and abusive Councillor is publicly parading and campaigning against the Mayor, and inadvertently leaking all the facts on social media along with another ‘wannabe’ politician based in London. I was forced to confront this Councillor and his comrade who threatened the Mayor in one of his postings (which I screenshot). I was later blocked from the page after I questioned their motives.
It is now clear that despite Holland was doing well for Linden, his opting out of a third term race may have more to do with him not following the orders of two prominent political personalities who successfully rallied his councillors against him. These personalities have for years been operating as if Linden belongs only to them and no other leader should rise up and shine. They were responsible for the ousting of former Region 10 Chairman Solomon, Ms Kissoon and many others, while in recent times they were instrumental in the removal of several persons at LEN and the former Regional Execu-tive Officer Gavin Clarke. Now the two who usually boast that they can get rid of whomever they desire, are trying to move a brilliant young leader out of their way. The cases of Solomon and Kissoon are debatable, but in the case of Pastor Clarke, he refused to grant contracts selectively, and now we are hearing it is the same with the Linden Mayor who refused to follow instructions which would have involved corruption. Linden is heading down the wrong road again and again, and Holland’s exit will be a big blow to the community with voters destined to speak out at the polls, because Lindeners can’t be fooled twice.
Holland is the first Mayor to sit full time in that council and work without a salary to turn things around for Linden, which was called the “ghost town” when he took over. Now Linden has made many strides under this young man who also rose to the ranks of Chief Mayor in Guyana after being unanimously elected by his comrades.
As for the Councillor who is ultra-vocal against the Mayor, I asked him on social media what he had done for my constituency of which he is the representative, and he launched his usual attacks against me instead of listing his achievements. It is public knowledge that all he did was fight against and verbally abuse the Mayor instead of representing the interests of the people in his constituency. This is the same man who falsely asserted that the Mayor had spent some five hundred thousand dollars of the council’s money; the same man who was fighting against the reopening of the Kara Kara toll both; the same man who was publicly supportive of the PPP Town Clerk when she was stifling development in the mining town; the same man who claimed the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge was falling down; and yes, the same man who is once again on social media commanding attention with more distortions and pomposity. How could the party stand by and allow such nonsense?
Holland was not personally known to me before his reign as Mayor but commanded my admiration and support through his hard work and dedication to see my beloved town rise from the crippled state it was left in by the PPP administration, and he may be a victim of his anti-corruption stance. President David Granger recently said there is no place for corrupt officials in government and by this I take it to mean central, regional and local. So I am calling on the President whom I support 100% to intervene and look into this matter for the people of Linden. Linden just found a new hope, and should not lose it to self-serving politicians.
Yours faithfully,
Garth Nelson
