…Mayors elected for Anna Regina, Mahdia, Linden, Lethem
Despite not securing the confidence of his constituency at the local government polls, Alfred Mentore of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was on Thursday elected to serve as Mayor of Georgetown.
Mentore, who represented APNU in Constituency Four (Lamaha Gardens, Newtown, Campbellville, Section K Campbellville & Bel Air Park) in Georgetown, lost to the candidate for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Alfonso Fidel De Armas-Archbold by 31 votes.
Mentore was, nevertheless, elected to the Georgetown City Council as a proportional representation candidate.
Mentore has served two terms on the City Council and was also the former Deputy Mayor.
After being elected as the new Mayor, he addressed the fact that his constituency rejected him.
“I still love all of you even though I might not be your constituency councillor this term, but will work to regain your trust and support in this greater calling as Mayor as I serve the city in a new capacity,” he expressed.
He also called for Councillors to put their political differences aside and work in the interest of the capital city.
“For us to put our collective shoulders to the wheel. Let us turn a new page and let us find a way…how we could work together and be able to build this city regardless of who wearing a green shirt and who wearing a red shirt,” Mentore emphasised.
He also expressed his willingness to work along with Central Government in the development of Georgetown.
“I will do everything in my power to earn your trust…and extend an olive branch to our PPP Councillors here and Central Government leaders as a whole to work to improve the city’s infrastructure and bring a better life to all,” he said.
“We have serious issues of flooding, we have serious issue of aging infrastructure, we have serious issue of market, poor and damaged roads that urgently need attention; as such, we need a stronger sense of teamwork.”
He also expressed his support for the livestreaming of all City Council meetings, in the interest of transparency.
“I personally will support and I’m sure whenever we meet as a council, we would like to support the livestreaming of these meetings for the civility of these meetings, for the transparency of these meetings…people must understand this council ain’t got nothing to hide.”
Meanwhile, APNU’s Denise Miller was elected Deputy Mayor.
The other Georgetown councillors are De Armas-Archbold, Tahirih Adams, Odayson Ashby, Bishram Bipat, Jewula Caesar, Aileen Chalmers, Patricia Chase-Green, Kibwe Copeland, Eslyn David, Jason David, Rudolph Dyal, Trowes Ellis, Yvonne Faguson, Dexter Forte, Gregory Fraser, Troy Garraway, Winston Harding, Clayton Hinds, Mohamed Isfehani, Steven Jacobs, Robert Maison, Jeffon Muhammad, Leon Saul, Kesha Satimo, Jai Singh, Phagoo Singh, Kyle Solomon and Dion Younge.
Dominique Blair
Based on the results of the recently-concluded Local Government Elections, APNU is occupying 19 seats on the council while the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has 11. In 2018, the PPP had occupied seven seats while APNU and the Alliance For Change (AFC) combined had 23.
Linden
Meanwhile, over in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), long-standing political activist and former chairman of the mining town, Sharma Solomon was elected the new Mayor with newcomer Dominique Blair as his deputy.
“Sitting in this position after 11 years of administration of our beautiful community, I want to say that we gave a commitment to ensure that we have strong, right and proper representation that will be returned to this particular leadership. I am humbled to return to be of service,” Solomon expressed, after being elected unopposed.
For his part, Blair said: “I want to express my gratitude for the trust and confidence you have placed in me. I’m committed to serve our community with dedication, integrity and transparency; as newly-elected Councillor and Deputy Mayor…I firmly believe in the power of collaboration and open dialogue, I will actively seek your input and ideas to shape the decision that we make, your voices matter…”
In this year’s Local Government Elections (LGE), APNU earned 14 seats on the Linden Town Council while the PPP doubled its seats to two.
Mahdia, Anna Regina, Lethem, Rose Hall
In Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), representatives of the PPP/C have taken up the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Eslyn Hussein was unanimously elected Mayor while Akita John took up the post of Deputy Mayor.
Following the recent LGE, both the PPP/C and APNU won four seats each on the Mahdia Town Council.
Meanwhile, in the township of Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), John Macedo was re-elected Mayor, while Indeera Singh was elected Deputy Mayor on Thursday. The PPP/C won the municipality, as it contested unopposed. Those occupying the other seats on the Town Council include Sharon Malcolm, Jason Wilson, Fitzgerald Singh, and Ryan Alceides.
In 2018, of the 1334 valid votes that came in for the Lethem municipality, the APNU received 528 votes, PPP/C 676, and AFC 130.
In Rose Hall, Dave Budhu was again re-elected Mayor, with Roydel Lewis as his Deputy.
