“Incompetent” – AG on City Hall managing of Georgetown

…says M&CC’s long-standing failures led to road management takeover

Accusing City Hall of “demonstrating incompetence” and abdicating their statutory responsibility and duties for decades, Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall on Tuesday defended Central Government’s decision to assume control of several streets in Georgetown.
Nandlall made the remarks during his weekly programme “Issues in the News”, where he addressed pushback from city Mayor Alfred Mentore over the Administration’s move to reclassify a number of city streets as public roads to bring their management under central Government control.
“City Council can’t even maintain City Hall,” Nandlall noted as he leaned into a scathing critique of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
According to the AG, the decision was executed in accordance with the Roads Act and is not one the Government took lightly but was necessary given the municipality’s long-standing failures.
“It is not the desire of the Government to do that, but the buck stops with the Government. The truth of the matter is historically, and currently, the Georgetown City Council has abysmally failed to discharge its statutory function in keeping the city clean, upgrading the roads, keeping them in proper conditions, and removing obstacles and encumbrances that are deposited in public places, including on these streets and on the sidewalks of these streets,” Nandlall said.
He argued that the situation in Georgetown has deteriorated over decades without meaningful intervention from City Hall.
“This state of affairs has continued for decades without an adequate response from the City Council of Georgetown. I am sure many of you have travelled the world, and Georgetown will rank as one of the nastiest cities that you have ever visited. We must accept and recognise a problem before we can solve it,” he stated.
Nandlall contended that the central Government has been forced to repeatedly intervene to address deficiencies traditionally under municipal jurisdiction, including financing garbage collection and road rehabilitation.
“The Government had to recently give $100 million, and ever so often the Government has to step in and pay bills for garbage collection totalling millions and millions of dollars,” he said.
He further emphasised that the Ministry of Public Works has already been expending substantial sums to repair and upgrade roads that legally fall under the City Council’s purview.
“There are a whole host of functions under the Municipal and District Councils Act that city council are required to discharge, and they don’t discharge. Over 90 per cent of those statutory duties,” Nandlall asserted.
In justifying the takeover, the AG maintained that the state is acting fully within its legal authority and in the interest of public welfare.
“Under the Roads Act, the state, through an order, can take control of any public road in this country through the Ministry of Public Works and the Chief Roads Officer. And in compliance with those statutory provisions, those roads have been taken control of and will now be repaired and upgraded and kept up and monitored by the Ministry of Public Works for the betterment of the citizens of Georgetown and the citizens of Guyana,” he explained.
Main architects of decline
Nandlall also dismissed criticisms from former Mayor Hamilton Green, blaming his past leadership for contributing to the city’s decline.
“I see Hamilton Green writing long, long letters. He is one of the main architects of this decline and incompetence. He presided over the city for decades and presided over the dereliction of duty and presided over the destruction of Georgetown. Enough is enough,” Nandlall said.
The Government, he stressed, has no hidden agenda in assuming control of the roads and will continue the process in phases.
“The Government’s intention is simply to act in the public’s interest and address what is a national disaster… The Government has no ulterior motive. The Government is acting in the public interest, Guyana’s interest, and in the interest of the public health of Georgetown and Guyanese,” he said.
He added that the Administration is considering expanding its intervention beyond roadways.
“We’re moving from the roads and we’re going to take over the empty spaces as well. The state has that power in law. We will ensure that no law is violated,” Nandlall stated.