Mayor Narine welcomes meeting with Prime Minister Phillips

City Hall, Georgetown |His Worship Pt Ubraj Narine led a delegation including Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore, Town Clerk (ag) Candace Nelson, Deputy City Engineer (ag) Kenson Boston and Assistant City Engineer (ag) Kabila Hollingsworth to engage with Prime Minister Brig (r’td) Mark Phillips at the Office of the Prime Minister this morning. 

His Worship indicated that the Municipality Is not without its challenges it continues to work to the best of its ability. The Mayor noted that the engineers of the Council enjoy a good working relationship with their counterparts at NDIA and this relationship is commendable. He stated that this type of relationship should exist between the Municipality and the Central Government but there seems to be a deliberate decision not to engage the Municipality.

Mayor Narine stated that following the meeting with the PM there will be a follow up with the Engineers and the Town Clerk to again stress the need to ensure robust monitoring. His Worship however stated that this issue goes back to the Local Government Commission which has failed to act on the decision of the Council on the matter of the City Engineer. He stated that the Council has its hands tied and is unable to discipline officers for failure to perform their duties due to the imposition of the LGC. The Council continues to challenge this. 

Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore stated that a matter of concern from the Council is the apparent external influence of its officers who are sometimes called and given instructions counter to the decisions of the Council and without the knowledge of the Council. This coupled with the Council’s inability to discipline officers has resulted in a precarious situation. 

His Worship Pt Ubraj Narine requested that the Prime Minister exercise some influence to rectify this situation whether at the parliamentary level or the Ministerial level.