New Mayor of George-town, Alfred Mentore, yesterday pledged to “bury the hatchet” and be a people‘s mayor in the execution of his duties.
Mentore made the announcement yesterday during his inaugural address at the extraordinary statutory meeting called for the swearing in of councillors and to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
The elections process took a turn when former mayor, Pat Chase-Green, and Councillor Dion Younge of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic quickly moved to nominate their fellow party councillor, Odayson Audwin Ashby for mayorship.
That nomination created a stir in the process with Chase-Green, who was decked out in a fire engine-red dress as opposed to her customary green, swiftly rising to prevent a motion for the close of nominations.
Soon after Mentore’s nomination was seconded, she sprang up and made the nomination in support of Ashby and it was quickly seconded by Younge.
However, the new cohort of APNU councillors held their ground and followed through with their party’s decision to elect third-term councillor, Mentore, as mayor. Mentore’s nomination was made and seconded by fellow APNU members, Gregory Fraser and Tahirih Adams respectively.
The vote for Mentore was 19 to 11 in line with party strength.
APNU’s planned run-of-the-mill process for the election of Deputy Mayor was also lengthened as newcomer Denise Miller who was nominated for the post was quickly challenged. The PPP/C’s Jainarine `Don’ Singh received a nomination from Younge and it was quickly seconded by Ashby for the post but his bid fell through as APNU used their majority. Miller was nominated by APNU’s Keisha Sertima and seconded by Councillor Clayton Hinds.
Prior to the voting, the council unanimously agreed for ballots to be cast by a show of hands.
However, as Mentore took over the chairmanship of the meeting, his ability to lead and defuse agitated councillors quickly came into question. On several occasions he was schooled on protocols by seasoned councillor Chase-Green who has been at the city since 1994.
During the nominations for deputy mayor, councillors became rowdy as Younge’s attempt to nominate Singh was overlooked by Mentore in favour of Sertima. It was a clash of voices as both sides traded comments on who should have been given preference.
In the election of members of the Finance Committee, the clash between councillors continued as they were nominated in two blocks.
Chase-Green objected to Mentore being nominated for the post arguing he has ex-officio powers and it is out of the norm for him to be a voting member of the committee.
She also was quick to point out that all nominations should be counted singly and not in the bloc manner as they were nominated.
Mentore was guided by her wisdom and voting for the finance committee members was done individually.
The members of finance committee are: APNU’s Lelon Saul as Chairman, Mentore, Tahirih Adams, Troy Garraway, Clayton Hinds, Yvonne Ferguson, and PPP/C’s Don Singh. Singh’s election to the post was well supported with 27 out of 30 votes in his favour.
Chase-Green also shared nominations with Alfonso De Armas-Archbold, and Ashby for a seat on the committee. When Chase-Green’s name came up for votes, APNU councillors boldly said “no” and some heckled, “we don’t want you.” But she quickly shot back with “y’all don’t want me to see the corruption.”
However, when Singh’s name came up, an APNU Councillor said “Alright we can tek he!” and with the others in agreement, votes were cast in his favour. Singh received the highest number of votes for the committee but that did not give him the opportunity to secure the post as chairman on the most important committee of the council.
‘Bury the hatchet’
As Mentore moved to address the council, he called for unity not only among councilors, but between city hall and central government with whom they have long had a strained relationship.
“Let us reach across the aisle and work together and bury the hatchet. Let us not look at who is wearing a green shirt and who is in a red shirt, let us work for the people of Georgetown,” the Mayor urged.
In his inaugural address to the council he sought to extend an olive branch to the PPP/C Councillors to work with him on improving the city’s infrastructure and improve the life of citizens.
“Let us turn a new page and let us find a way to reach across… and find ways in which we can be able to work together and build this city,” he with optimism before stating “… I can assure you that as leader of this team, I will do everything in my power to earn your trust, build relations.”
Mentore, who held the post of Deputy Mayor under the leadership of outgoing mayor, Ubraj Narine, pointed out they will have to work to fix the drainage issues that have been plaguing the city for decades.
“We have serious issues of flooding, we have serious issues of infrastructure, and we have serious issues of markets, poor and damaged roads that urgently need attention. As such, we need a strong sense of teamwork…We cannot succeed as a municipality without being a team.”
Additionally, as he responded to a campaign promise from Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Mentore said he has no objections to statutory meetings being live streamed. He stated that his council and his leadership will be built on public trust and transparency and accountability.
“I personally would support and I am sure whenever we meet as a Council, we would like to support live streaming of these meetings for the stability of these meetings, for the transparency of these meetings. So that people must understand, this Council ain’t got nothing to hide,” the Mayor- elect declared.
Multiple sources close to APNU had told Stabroek News that Mentore was pre-picked for the post of mayor. Despite losing his constituency seat, he managed to enter council by being on the party’s proportional representation list.
In an interview earlier this week with Stabroek News, he said, “I will always be a representative of the people. They have put their trust in me and I plan to give solid representation to my constituency and all those who might have been led astray.”
Mentore had told Stabroek News when he entered the realm of local government politics in 2016, “I feel I can make a difference for my constituency today and the various constituencies in Georgetown in particular.”
Shaking off his narrow loss at the elections to the PPP/C’s constituency candidate De Armas-Archbold, Mentore expressed satisfaction with his performance on the campaign trail.
In his view, the defeat was not significant as the margin was small and it was simply because his PPP/C opponent had the resources to “give him the edge.”
“I would say I ran an extremely good campaign with the resources I had. The PPP/C had more resources and ran a decent campaign, but when you look at 2018 and now, I managed to increase my votes by an estimated 50 per cent. The votes increased by 300…,” Mentore underscored.
The mayoral election was witnessed by many including past councillors, Andrea Marks and Oscar Clarke, former mayor Narine, and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy.
McCoy found himself in a heckling match with APNU supporters and as the noise got louder, they were told by the Mayor to tone down or he would be forced to have them escorted out.
The winners in the first-past-the-post elections are: PPP/C’s Mohamed Shazam Isfehani, Rudolph Valantena Dyal, Phagoo Singh, Alfonso Fidel De Armas-Archbold, and Bhisham Bipat, while the APNU councillors are: Clayton Wilberforce Hinds, Jeffon Muhammad, Gregory Douglas Fraser, Kyle Anthony Solomon, Traves Cleon Ellis, Yvonne Ingrid Ferguson, Troy Gordon Garraway, Winston Harding, Kibwe Komota Copeland, and Aileen Cecelia Chalmers.
Those drawn from the proportional representation lists are: APNU’s Alfred Mentore, Dexter Lawrence Forte, Eslyn David, Jason Jermaine David, Kesha Andrea Sertima, Denise A Miller, Robert Wayne Maison, Tahirih Adams, and Lelon Saul. For PPP/C, Dion Younge, Jai Narine Singh, Jewula Angela Ceasar, Odayson Audwin Ashby, Patricia Veronica Chase-Green, and Steven Anthony Jacobs.
