Citizens do not need window dressing from City Hall

Dear Editor,
In Guyana, one often hears the term, “You have got to give Jack his jacket”. I must say that, in terms of the Mayor of our capital, one must admit that since his assumption of office, there has been a significant reduction in the exorbitance that was enjoyed by some through misspending property rates in the rampant duplicity and well-known profligacy at City Hall.
Gone are the very expensive monthly overseas jaunts to the furthest corners of the world without any tangible returns, as was undertaken by his predecessor. Gone are wasteful projects like the ‘Presidential Park’ on the Merriman’s Mall. Gone are the luxurious staff conferences and seminars at high-end resorts around the country. Gone are the mega billboards trumpeting what were deemed to be City Hall’s successes.
However, there seems to be considerable reluctance on the part of the Chief Citizen to reduce the bloated payroll and the plenitude of purposeless departments that siphon off so much of the money that the City badly needs.
Why does the City need a Public Relations Department? Citizens do not need window dressing; they are well aware of the realities and shortcomings of the municipality.
Garnishing the truth about stray animals roaming the streets makes no sense. Everyone would be better off if the stray animals were impounded; or fogging was done to rid the City of mosquitoes; or non-functioning street lights were fixed; or pot holes were mended; or the Abattoir was restored to working order; or the cemetery was debushed; or the shuttered day care centres were reopened.
Having a Public Relations Department that is paid millions of dollars each month to put up a façade that everything is bright and beautiful at City Hall makes no sense, and the department should immediately be disbanded.
Then there is the underperforming Personnel Section, which, in such circumstances of low achievement, any serious and progressive organisation would have made the tough but sensible decisions of considering a new leader assimilation process, and educate and train the rest of the team to be able to successfully deliver. But what did they do? They aggrandised that section into a mega-department by promoting the same non-performers to super-salaried management positions, and hired a number of persons to numerous high paying and non-essential positions, causing the payroll to become even more turgid. This needs to be corrected by deflating the department to a small but efficient section.
Additionally, the Council is saddled with a huge nugatory Internal Audit Section, which is heavily staffed by persons who are highly paid, but which has never ensured that internal control processes are operating effectively within that organisation. With the amount of fraudulent activity, corruption and systemic breaches that were discovered by external sources over time, is it not time that this section be demobilised and dissolved, and the services of a competent audit company be contracted when needed?

Sincerely,
Modi Sankar