Municipal assets recovery agency needed

Dear Editor,
Even as a State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has been set up in Guyana to work to recover purportedly stolen assets, the need has become more evident for the setting up of a Municipal Assets Recovery Agency (MARA) to pursue assets recovery and financial investigations into the Georgetown Municipality.
From what has come out at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that was established by the Local Government Commission (LGC), and which clearly is merely the tip of the iceberg, it has become pellucid that there is need for the formation of such a unit even if temporarily, staffed with a team of skilled persons in the basic elements of the recovery of assets; of how to investigate the theft of the municipality’s and city’s assets; of how to trace these stolen assets and monies, some of which it is clear has been put into forms that are not easily identifiable and some of which have been leaked overseas into foreign bank accounts and transferred to other people.
Citizens of Georgetown were aware even before the hosting of the CoI that corruption was at the top of the scale in their municipality, but they also feel strongly that it is a disease that must not be allowed to fester if we are to see any betterment in our capital city.
With the administrative Head of that organisation being cited for gross misconduct, abuse of office, recklessness, dishonesty, conspiracy, and misappropriation of funds, and with other senior and key municipal officers being cited for dereliction of duty, incompetence, and conspiracy, it is unbelievable that months have passed since the handing over of the report and the police have not yet been called in, and worse, these individuals have been left unimpeded at their desks to hide and destroy evidence, to intimidate witnesses and continue to carry out their incompetence, conspiracy and dereliction of duty at will. Only in this country could such slackness prevail. When they are finally sent on administrative leave or removed from their posts, all would have been lost at the Council.
One would have thought that one of the first things the new Council would have done after taking office if they are serious about restoring and advancing the fortunes of Georgetown would have been to create an asset register, identifying and securing what municipal assets are left after the plundering that was done over the years, and then they would have sought to go after and retrieve all the municipal reserves and lands that have been disposed of improperly, equipment practically given away to friends, and materials and supplies acquired but cannot be accounted for, like the scenario at the Kitty Market.
It is totally unacceptable for the new Council to just take the filthy baton from the last Council and run off without a stocktaking exercise. The new Council needs to expose corruption at every level in the municipality, punish the perpetrators and drive out the culture of corruption there.

Best regards,
Deodarie Putulall