Citizens still being intimidated by SCSI enforcers
… even as By-laws suspended
The Georgetown metered parking By-laws have been suspended on the orders of the person who signed them in the first place; Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan. The order was made on Friday by Bulkan under the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01, Section 306.
SCSI employees out in full force on Saturday
According to the suspension order, “the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown are in default of their functions with respect to the Georgetown metered parking By-Laws.”
The order, which was cited as the Georgetown Metered Parking (Suspension) Order 2017, quotes a declaration from the Minister that “I hereby direct the Mayor and Councillors to suspend the Georgetown Metered Parking By-Laws for three months commencing on the 17 March, 2017.”
In an interview with Guyana Times on Saturday, Minister Bulkan expressed optimism that the suspension order would allow for further consultations. Out of those consultations, he was hopeful that parts of the project considered oppressive by the populace can be revised.
“The central government had engaged the Council and had advanced the position that the rates were onerous, burdensome and some of the other areas like the fees for clamping, so this period is to allow these concerns (to) be satisfactorily addressed to allow central government to have confidence in the project and to allow for its resumption,” he said.
Bulkan’s suspension comes against the backdrop that the Government refused to support the parliamentary Opposition when it brought a motion to debate the contentious project in the National Assembly earlier this year. This resulted with the project moving ahead and now escalated.
It is not clear what consensus can be reached to further abrogate the oppressive clauses of the amended contract and the By-laws. Town Clerk of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), Royston King, had been defiant towards the Minister soon after the order was announced.
According to reports in other sections of the media, the Town Clerk had written a letter to the Minister expressing the inability to suspend the project.
Reports indicate that the Minister was also told that the three-month suspension as was recommended by Cabinet would result in a breach of the agreement signed with Smart City Solutions (SCSI).
This, the letter had stated, would create a situation whereby the company would have to be reimbursed all of its investment.
Deputy Mayor and Acting Mayor Sherod Duncan had stated on Friday that despite central government’s intervention, City Hall’s administration remained intransigent.
Quoting the authority, he exercises as acting Mayor (Mayor Patricia ChaseGreen is said to be out of the jurisdiction) and on the advice of the Town Clerk, he stated that an “Extraordinary Statutory Meeting will be convened to allow for the full deliberation and a decision by the Council.”
Business as usual
But despite the order, it is alleged that clamping (the booting of vehicles deemed to be in default of those By-laws), was still being carried out by employees of the private parking meter company, SCSI. Guyana Timeswas able to verify that SCSI workers were out in full force, toting clamps.
In a press release on Saturday, a representative of lobby group Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) expressed disgust that despite central government’s suspension of the parking meter By-laws, SCSI “continues to bully citizens in the streets of Georgetown. The usual intimidation tactics could be seen in full force on Saturday 18, 2017.”
It noted that the company cannot enforce the parking rules that they had previously put in place and “they have no legal basis upon which to collect money or clamp the vehicles of citizens.”
The group called on all citizens to not submit to any form of intimidation and further, called upon the Guyana Police Force and the judicial system to “protect the people of Guyana.”
“Nowhere else in this world can a company of Guyanese origin, disregard the laws of a foreign country and its Government in this way without consequences. What or whom has emboldened Smart City Solutions?”
“If this is allowed to continue, it speaks volumes of how badly our national systems have failed us,” the group said, adding that while the three-month suspension is a positive step, it would continue to call for a complete revocation of both the Parking Meter Contract and its supporting By-laws.
