After serving some five years as Mayor of Georgetown, Pandit Ubraj Narine has decided against contesting in the upcoming Local Government Elections, noting that he has already given the job his “best shot”.
“I believe I gave it my best shot for five years and there’re other…young persons, who should…take up leadership,” Narine told this publication during a telephone interview on Monday.
Narine was elected to the post of Mayor in 2018 and throughout his tenure, faced immense backlash over a wide array of issues surrounding the management of the capital city.
He is, nevertheless, proud of his track record.
“[My] biggest achievement was to restore City Hall which I fought for, which the project is ongoing. The second project, the Admin Building…is not completed at this point [in] time, but I know…the next Mayor or the next Council…will complete that building. All the buildings in the city constabulary… [have also been] refurbished. Garbage contract came down from $35 million to $13.5 at this point,” Narine revealed when quizzed about his accomplishments as Mayor.
However, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall recently remarked that it was “outrageous” that after two years of construction, City Hall is still unable to complete the Administrative Building. As such, Dharmlall had said his Ministry would intervene to provide assistance in fast-tracking the project which is being financed through funds from the Central Government.
The restoration of City Hall is also being largely funded by Central Government. Dharamlall had previously expressed concerns about the Council’s inability to provide accountability for the funds being pumped into the rehabilitation project.
“Not a cent has been accounted for. Not a piece of documentation can be provided and that’s an outstanding issue which we would have to look at. We have had cases of gross incompetence and mismanagement which we will have to work to get fixed,” Dharamlall had expressed in 2020.
In addition to issues with finances, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council has come under fire for its mismanagement of the city’s drainage and irrigation infrastructure. In fact, accusations of neglect and sabotage were levelled against City Hall after the absence of workers from sluices and pumps led to flooding throughout the city after a night of heavy rainfall in 2021.
Due to this posture, Central Government has now taken on a leading role in ensuring the drainage and irrigation infrastructure are functioning during the rainy seasons, with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha remarking in 2022 that he will not be taking his chances with City Hall.
Regret
Meanwhile, when asked what was a task he regrets not getting to achieve as Mayor, Narine said the redevelopment of the Stabroek Market.
Narine further shared that his biggest challenge faced as Mayor was the perceived lack of cooperation between the Government and the City Council.
Despite no longer serving on the City Council, Narine said he will remain active in politics.
“I’m a humble servant of the people and I will be serving the people in my own little way. But I will not remove myself…from the political arena nor my political party. I stay committed,” Narine expressed.
LGE
Local Government Elections are scheduled for June 12. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be contesting all Local Authority Areas (LAAs) and hopes to increase its representation in Georgetown at the level of the City Council which is currently controlled by the PNC-led APNU/AFC.
Reports are at the last Local Government Elections in 2018, APNU won a total of 21 seats, while the PPP/C gained seven seats and the Alliance for Change (AFC) was allotted two.
APNU has not indicated whether it will participate in the upcoming polls but the AFC and other new parties such as A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and The New Movement (TMN) have said that they will not contest.
Government Minister Susan Rodrigues had previously declared that, “The APNU/AFC Councillors have dominated the seating for decades; the PNC has been in charge of the city from its inception and it is time for a change.”
In making her case for persons to vote for the PPP/C, the Minister had argued that “everything in this country is built by the PPP…when you look around, it doesn’t matter where you are, which region you are…every school, every health centre, built by the PPP, every community ground. There must come a time when we have to be honest with ourselves and understand that this party, the PPP represents progress.”
Charged
Last December, Mayor Narine was placed on $200,000 bail by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for allegedly attempting to excite racial hostility.
The charges stemmed from certain remarks the Mayor had made on December 12, 2022, while protesting the removal of vendors from the positions they occupied in front of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) at New Market Street in Georgetown.
Backed by the vendors, Mayor Narine lay on the roadway to prevent trucks from carrying away the vendors’ food caravans and stalls. Mayor Narine descended into making a series of serious accusations against President Dr Irfaan Ali, including that the Head of State is creating an Islamic State in Guyana.
Narine had gone to the area after the Public Works Ministry had initiated action to remove vendors occupying spaces along New Market Street, between Thomas and East Streets, following notices that they were impeding the flow of traffic in the vicinity.
Remarks uttered by Georgetown Mayor Narine, accusing the President of creating an Islamic State, were vehemently condemned by Government, the Private Sector and civil society, among others. His comments were met with immediate backlash and calls for his immediate resignation on the ground that he was unfit to hold such office.
Narine, who is a pandit, was also rebuked for his statement by the Guyana Pandits Council and its affiliates, which vehemently condemned the utterances he had made.
