Dear Editor,
The City Council’s indifference to accountability: When the PPP/C Government brought the above anomalies and others to the attention of the Council, we were often accused of wanting to deny the illegal vendors an opportunity to earn a living. These very vendors were often used by then Mayor Hamilton Green and his deputy to take to the streets in protest, in return for being allowed to vend illegally. Furthermore, the vendors were enticed/duped into committing to vote for the APNU+AFC political alliance at the May 2015 General and Regional Elections in return for the Council’s turning a blind eye to their illegal vending.
Sadly when the APNU/AFC Government took office, it reneged on the unwritten understanding the Mayor/Deputy Mayor had with the vendors and the City Council’s triumvirate of Mayor, Head of its Finance Committee and Town Clerk spearheaded the demolition of their structures.
The PPP/C Government financial and other support to the Council: The PPP/C Government was of times forced to pump millions of dollars into the City Council’s coffers annually to bail them out of their financial woes and for the purpose of addressing the health and environmental concerns arising out of the City Council’s failure to provide sanitation and other health related services the legislation requires of the Council. For the years 2007 to 2014 financial support to the extent of $357 million was provided to the City Council; and this excludes the cost of a number of Compactor Trucks, Pick Ups and Garbage Bins given to the Council and the several Cleanup Campaigns which the PPP/C Government initiated and supported, including the $500 million Cleanup Georgetown which activity the City Council had agreed to maintain.
But the issue of increasing revenue base and so making more resources available to the Council cannot be considered independent of the present performance of the Council where issues of accountability are concerned. Access to more resources must be based, inter alia, on service delivery and overall performance including transparency and accountability for resources already at the disposal of Council.
The latter’s present operations are shrouded in corruption, incompetence and arrogance. Furthermore, one must be mindful about supporting any measure that introduces increased costs and bring more hardship to the citizens of the municipality eg the proposed Parking Meter Project.
Following the Local Government Elections of March 18, 2016, and the election of a new Council at City Hall, the latter resolved, inter alia, to: a) put new revenue collecting mechanism in place with an expected significant jump in revenues; (b) have a revaluation of property; change of status of some from residential to commercial; (c) have better car and bus park management; (d) issue of land leases, etc.
These measures are yet to be put in place.
Albeit, the APNU/AFC Government has made available to City Hall over $300 million and has committed to provide a further $180 million to help the inefficient Council to meet expenditures to which the latter committed without resources. Nine months later, the Council is still struggling to keep its head above water.
Improving the way things are done at City Hall can only be done by:
a) Not allowing yourselves to be used as political tools to impose the will of Government, namely, to award contracts to supporters, bypassing the procurement procedures and denying resources to those perceived not to be supporters of the Government.
(b)Interference in the work of the City Council that goes beyond providing guidance/overview viz: Instructions to settle cases of rates owing on properties and exemption of certain properties that do not meet the requirements for waiver from payment of rates as set out in the Municipal Legislation.
This represents revenue loss that denies the Council and the residents’ financial resources that could be used to provide more goods and services to satisfy their needs. It encourages corruption and kickbacks.
(c) Building and strengthening capacity at the level of the human resource.
(d) Improving revenue collection and expenditure controls to guard against misuse of assets.
(e) Addressing issues of governance.
Good governance is essential for sustainable development and the Council must take measures to improve good governance practise by, inter alia, involving the citizens in policy making, public education and awareness with some frequency; and by providing opportunity for citizens to have a greater involvement in decision making with respect to their own development and that of the Communities in which they live.
Some of the very citizens could be part of the monitoring and evaluation of projects to ensure citizens get value for money. It’s one way you improve rates collection: when citizens are involved in the process of getting things done to benefit themselves.
Then and only then would the excesses and mismanagement at City Hall be arrested and replaced with reliable, timely and quality services to citizens and so restore the confidence, credibility and the trust of citizens in the work of City Hall. We must not allow our own selfish agenda to frustrate the work of Council. Citizens’ participation helps to build trust. This involvement must go beyond mere one-to-one exchanges, phone calls, street corner and rum shop engagements. With Annual Internal Elections for Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the City Council due shortly, we could make a start in effecting the required changes and concomitant improvements.
Is this asking too much?
Norman Whittaker
