Central Govt review of contract unlawful – Nandlall

Parking meter controversy…

Former Attorney General and legal luminary Anil Nandlall has deemed Government’s move to review the parking meter contract between the Georgetown City Council and National Parking Systems/Smart City Solutions (NPS/SCS) Inc as unlawful.
During an interview with Guyana Times on Sunday, Nandlall explained that Central Government has no role in the decision-making process of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of any municipality, not even to review a contract in search of illegalities.
In light of mounting concerns over the controversial Parking Meters Project, Cabinet recently ordered that the contract be reviewed by the Finance Ministry and the Attorney General’s Chambers.

State Minister Joseph Harmon had explained that if illegalities are discovered, government would take according actions. However, he had also cautioned that Central Government is limited in its intervention since it is undemocratic and outright unlawful to interfere in matters under the remit of City Council.
Nandlall posited that M&CC is a duly elected body corporate that has functional independence and autonomy and therefore, Central Government has no right interfering in its operations.
“Central Government’s arrogation onto itself of powers to review the parking meter contract is tantamount to unlawful interference with the functions of an elected body,” he emphasised.
He further explained that the Minister of Local Government, in this case Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan has clearly defined functions in relation to municipalities and the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and that those functions do not extend to review of contracts or interference in decisions made.
He added that if the City Council violates the law, it is still not Central Government’s duty to ensure it is sanctioned.
“If a person from City Council violates the law, then that person is liable to prosecution just like any other citizen,” he stated.
Moreover, Nandlall said if City Council goes ahead with the project despite the number of objections, then any taxpayer within the boundaries of the municipality has the right to take the matter to the Courts.
“Any citizen of Georgetown can challenge that decision. They have locus standi to challenge the actions of the Council,” he said.
Since the tête-à-tête signing of the contract for the Parking Meters Project, many persons, including M&CC councillors, over the past weeks have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the deal, which they claim appears to be a shady one aimed at exploiting the local populace.
In fact, Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan had stated that he could not find proper information about the company or any record of it providing parking meter services in any other country.
However, the Guyanese-born director of NPS/SCS Kamau Cush during an interview with Guyana Times over a week ago, had insisted that his companies are legitimate and have been doing business on the international scene for a number of years.
He claimed that his companies have worked in Panama, Argentina, Peru and Mexico City among others; however, checks by this publication in these locations turned up empty as there is no mention of either company.
Further checks on search engine www.whois.net revealed that the NPS’s website (http://npsgreatcities.com/) was registered on April 8, 2016 through www.godaddy.com – a website-hosting company in the US. This was about the time fresh discussions about the installation of parking meters in Georgetown surfaced.
On the other hand, following a visit to Mexico City, Mexico, and Panama last week, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green announced that the council will be going ahead with the project as they are satisfied after observing the services the company is offering in the two Central American cities. The mayor even went on to address the accusations against the company, saying that reckless statements serve only to frustrate the progress of Georgetown.
“It is my strong view that there is a group of individuals who wished to snatch this project and all of its benefits from this Council and citizens for their own private enterprise and personal gains… this will not happen under my watch,” Chase-Green assured.
President David Granger has recently outlined that he was deeply concerned about the issues being raised in relation to the project.
“Obviously we want to protect the national interests…I am disappointed that there are members of the public who feel they were not consulted…The whole purpose of having democratic elections is to have democratically run councils,” Granger stated.
He noted that his Government cannot do much but insisted that transparency and accountability prevail.
“As far as the Government is concerned, we would insist that there is greater transparency…we cannot overrule the council which is a legal body but we can ask for transparent procedures to prevail,” he stated.