Georgetown Mayor Pt. Ubraj Narine remains locked out of his office even as President Irfaan Ali has not yet sworn in the mayor-elect, thereby creating a vacuum in keeping with the Municipality Act, Cap 28:01, Section 18. According to said act, the mayor and deputy mayor take responsibility for their respective offices after being sworn in.
Narine told Village Voice News, two Fridays ago- 14th July- the Council boarded up the door to the mayor’s office, forcing his untimely departure before a duly elected mayor, representing the A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) on the Georgetown municipality, is sworn in.
According to the acting Town Clerk, Ms. Candace Nelson, in the Guyana Chronicle, the mayor has not returned to office after 14th July and has not discussed with her whether he will return during the interim of the swearing in of the mayor-elect. “He did not discuss anything …and did not say anything.”
Narine told this publication how could he return to an office that he was evicted from since 14th July, on the instruction of others, and the door to his office barred. Further, there has been no in-person engagement between him and the acting town clerk since April because she does not take his calls, he said. The mayor said communication between the two is via letter.
Village Voice News has seen a correspondence by the mayor to the acting town clerk dated 12th July, . The letter, titled “Handover of Office of the Mayor,” drew to Nelson’s attention a correspondence dated 11th July regarding the subject and the mayor’s desire to meet with the mayor-elect and the acting town clerk “at a suitable platform to ensure a comprehensive transfer of duties and information …[and to] make every effort to accommodate [her] schedule.” Narine said there has been no response to this letter
The mayor informed an earlier proposal made by him, via letter dated 14th June, to use the boardroom whilst the office was being renovated, was turned down. He was denied access to the room and a request was made to vacate the office via letter dated 14th July by the acting town clerk. In said correspondence (14th July) Nelson told Narine his request to use the boardroom was “highly inappropriate and [she] cannot grant same.”
Questioned on the statement reportedly made by Nelson that the Council had planned an official handing over ceremony for the in-coming mayor, on Friday 14th July, and he did not participate, Narine said he knows of no such function. To this end, he issued a call to Nelson to provide the invitation or correspondence of such a function and of him being invited to same.
According to the mayor, the acting town clerk “has victimised the Office of Mayor.” The mayor also advised the acting town clerk sent his confidential secretary on leave since the last two-three weeks and his personal assistant since April, leaving him without personnel to function.
Narine feels Nelson, who occupies a prestigious office, does not know her role and has not acted professionally. Under the Municipal Act, Sixth Schedule, which outlines the power, duties and responsibilities, the holder of the office is primarily administrative, not policy driven.
Reflecting on his tenure, the outgoing mayor said he served faithfully and fought fiercely for the constituents of his municipality and remains grateful of the support of the ordinary man in the street and the love received from the vendors in particular.
His only regret, he said, is the violation of the laws by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), their excesses, ongoing violations and misuse of power to sabotage the work and progress of the Council.
The outgoing mayor maintains the PPP is unfit to hold public office, and his party, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) needs to be careful lest they give the PPP the opportunity to install an interim management committee in the Council.
He is also calling on the government to hasten the appointments of mayor and deputy mayor as the people have spoken and have outright rejected the PPP.
Returning to the issue of his own mistreatment, Narine said some will always be hungry for power, impatient with the process through which power is acquired and/ or distributed, as well as undermine the same power that offers them protection. He however said he has already forgiven those who did exactly what they would condemn in the PPP and those who stood by quietly.
Local Government Elections were held June 12, 2023. The APNU is re-elected to the mayor and deputy mayorship of the Georgetown municipality. The mayors and deputy mayors have not yet been sworn in.
