Dear Editor,
It has been since November 2018 that the former Chancellor and retired Judge submitted to the Local Government Commission, his findings from a much need Commission of Inquiry that he carried out into the operations of City Hall. Yet, hardly anything has been done so far to implement the very worthwhile recommendations of this report.
It would appear as though for some odd reason, the Local Government Commission (LGC) is struggling to implement these recommendations and one has to wonder whether it is because of slothfulness, ineptitude and negligence or whether it is deliberate, contemptuous and politically driven.
With the exception of one ineluctable dismissal and a vague undertaking to have the Police investigate the possible tort of malfeasance by this individual, the public has not seen nor heard of anything else since from this well-accommodated, well-staffed and well-equipped commission, except for as the boys would say ‘some jan jat’ about their salaries and emoluments being withheld by the Communities Ministry, which brings into question the true independence of this constitutional body.
But of utmost worry to the citizenry is as to whether the Chairman and Commissioners are aware of the susceptibility, the chaos and the continued malpractices they are allowing to continue at City Hall as a result of their foot dragging.
Do they expect the auditors, the Police and SOCU to find incriminating evidence, any flawed records or any other signs of the massive corruption that was gleaned from the CoI, when they finally get there? The many culprits that were found by the CoI to be guilty of not working in the best interest of the city, of incompetence, of dereliction of duty, gross misconduct, abuse of office, recklessness, dishonesty, conspiracy, and misappropriation of funds, would be rather foolish not to have doctored and destroyed the implicating evidence all these months that they were not sent on administrative leave but rather allowed to sit at their desks and carry on business as usual.
These recalcitrant officers of the Georgetown Municipality are all being given a ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card by the Local Government Commission who are just pussyfooting around whilst being an additional financial burden to the taxpayers of Guyana. This is unacceptable.
Sincerely,
Amber Valentine
