Again, City Hall and its accountability capability are in the news, and this time, persons have been dismissed for embezzlement.
Over the years, the issue regarding the operations of City Hall and the need for accountability have often times made headlines in the local press. When the PPP/C Government took office in 2020, the Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall raised questions regarding accountability for the $300 million Restoration Fund which was contributed to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council for the restoration of the dilapidated City Hall building.
As it stands, the iconic City Hall structure has become an eyesore, and it will be no surprise if it crumbles in the near future. The Georgetown municipality has been cash-strapped for many years – mostly linked to lack of transparency and mismanagement of funds – and certainly would not have the kind of resources needed to carry out the restoration project.
The Restoration Fund was therefore established for this purpose. It is one by which members of the public, including businesses, would donate monies towards the rehabilitation of the 19th-century building. There was much optimism when the idea was first mooted, and everyone was looking forward to the project.
While we are not accusing anyone of corrupt practices or anything of that sort, City Hall in itself has done very little to convince the public that it is serious about ensuring that public funds are accounted for in a transparent and efficient manner. To date, the City administration has not been very forthcoming regarding the present financial state of affairs of the City.
On his part, the Local Government Minister had accused City Hall of “gross incompetence and mismanagement”.
The issues of transparency at City Hall have been many. It could be recalled also that the M&CC and then the APNU+AFC Government had embarked on a massive city-wide cleanup campaign in Georgetown and its environs. While these efforts produced fairly good results regarding the general appearance of the city and its environs, the political Opposition at the time (PPP) and other stakeholders had raised questions in relation to the contracts awarded to carry out the works.
The general perception was that friends and party supporters were the main beneficiaries. However, in spite of concerns that were raised about accountability and transparency, no effort was made to provide clarity to the public in relation to the sums expended and the beneficiaries of the contracts.
Only days ago, Dharamlall had warn City Hall about the consequences attached to undervaluing and disposing of the city’s assets in a ‘shady’ manner.
According to the Ministry, shared reports suggest that several properties owned by the Mayor and City Council have been undervalued and are currently being negotiated for disposal through very questionable processes.
In the past, there have been several letter writers, commentators and politicians calling for a forensic audit to be carried out on the operations of City Hall. These calls continue to reverberate in the interest of transparency and accountability of public funds.
Such an audit is needed, as in addition to determining to what extent public funds are being expended in a transparent and efficient manner, it would also seek to examine the tax collecting system to determine if the allegations of dishonesty, deficiency, and discrepancies have any merit.
The mere fact that millions of tax payers’ dollars are regularly used to bail out the City from its financial woes is enough reason for the Administration to act in the public’s interest.
