Dear Editor,
I hail His Worship, the Mayor of Georgetown, for his recent measure missive in SN and KN regarding what Central Government is doing with the city under his watch. He makes me admire his temperateness under great duress. What Mayor Narine put before the public, especially Capital City residents should resonate, the conditions under which he is forced to operate. The biggest deficit is money. It is of monies withheld by Central Government, with one game after another taking shape and performed on the national stage. The last one was the Presidential cleanup. It is a helpful thing by itself, but the motivations behind it makes me question the President’s priorities, on occasion his sanity. Let the municipality carry its weight, give it some resources and support; strangle an entity of funds and it withers. Instead of searching for ways to undermine the work of Local Government, Central Government, as led by the President, must look for ways to partner with its people. The Minister of Local Government is running a parallel city, or a city within a city, with selected areas and selected projects to neutralize the reach and influence of City government. When the President engages in his candid camera moment and the Minister runs his rings of opportunity, these are but examples of political saboteurs and leadership financial subversions in action.
President and minister, like a barber, trim and perfume; after that the stain and stench return, part of which could be traced to their passing. Not satisfied with being barbers, they must, in true PPP/C form, slice off huge pieces of municipal meat to satisfy their whims and cravings for dividing and controlling. This is supposed to be a nation of one something, which I am at a loss to know what that is. But here is this PPP/C Government that tirelessly probes for openings in which to drive wedges. There is a wedge relative to the Opposition; there is another wedge at work in Local Government; and there is one more intended to weaken and divide city folks to their advantage. I forgot, another wedge is what is acted out in the media, which is divided artfully. This is not governance, it is guerilla warfare, which is what PPP operators learned well in Havana, Prague, and Moscow. Govern-ment agencies owe the city millions, but amid all the blabbering, nobody in those places is saying anything about paying. Government people (mainly) in the city owe billions in rates and taxes, but try going after them, and the PPP/C machinery goes into another gear. The chorus of corrupt characters spring into action in media frenzies, court filings, and outreach to powerful leaders who jump to do the bidding of money sanitizers and drug merchants, operating under a variety of fronts. Meanwhile, Mayor Narine puts on his best face, and try his best to manage with what is left. It’s a struggle.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
