Chase Green, King could face another no-confidence motion

By Michael Younge

A group of Councillors from the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is working on bringing another no-confidence motion against Mayor Patricia Chase Green and Town Clerk Royston King as there continues to be growing concern over the manner in which the Georgetown municipality is being run.
One of the Councillors who spoke with  Guyana Times on Thursday morning said the motion was being carefully drafted and a strategic plan was being worked out to ensure that the “infamous duo” could not use their “political manoeuvres” to kill or block the motion as was the case on previous occasions.

“We know that they will try very hard to fight the motion, but to tell the truth: these two officials are running the Council and City Hall as if it is a cake shop or their own personal business. They do not understand what good governance, democracy or integrity mean,” the Councillor who chose to remain anonymous until the motion is fully prepared and ready to be tabled.
The Councillor insisted that his colleagues and others have tried diligently to work with the Town Clerk and the Mayor, but it appeared as though they were a law unto themselves.
“There is massive corruption … fraud at the Council and the continued mismanagement of the Council’s resources, but little or no serious focus and introspection is being done. We cannot allow these two personalities to stand any longer without stepping aside so that the Council and Georgetown could be restored to their former glory. This is not the change residents of Georgetown voted for,” the Councillor alleged.
The City Councillor also told <<<Guyana Times>>> that at least two members of the ruling A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition were willing to deflect if the motion is tabled, debated and voted on secretly.
“They are fearful. These two are seen as tyrants who in the end get their way. But we are going to strike at the right time and just when the situation is convenient. There are scores of complaints against King at the level of the Local Government Commission, but I feel it’s powerless because of politics,” the Councillor remarked.
Back in March, City Councillor Sherod Duncan failed in his quest to have the Council argue a motion of no-confidence against Town Clerk King.
Duncan’s motion was disallowed when a majority of Councillors voted to accept legal advice which declared that the policy-making body had no right to declare a lack of confidence in its chief administrative officer.
The decision was made after Mayor Chase Green read the advice procured by King from former Magistrate Maxwell Edwards. The motion was thrown out despite the fact that previous Councils that Chas -Green sat on had moved six motions of no confidence against former Town Clerk Carol Sooba.
Edwards argued that a vote of no confidence amounted to disciplinary action against the Town Clerk, a function which is outside the powers of the Council.
Another legal mind explained that his reading of the Municipal and District Councils Act leads him to, “off the top of [his] head”, opine that “he can’t see that the Council has no power to express its opinion on the conduct of the Town Clerk, which is what it seems to be trying to do.”
Further, a clear precedent exists with the previous Council having moved six no-confidence motions against former Town Clerk Sooba.
Sooba, who was installed as Town Clerk in 2012 by former Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker, consistently clashed with the Hamilton Green-led Council which tabled and passed motion after motion. Each motion was forwarded to the Minister of Local Government, since the Council did not have disciplinary powers but at no time did the Council declare itself unable to complain.