By Mark DaCosta- The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the leading component of the opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), said on October 29 that the Corriverton Town Council is drifting into administrative breakdown. Meetings have stopped, committees are dormant, key posts are vacant and councillors, including some from the ruling PPP/C, are being shut out of decisions. The coalition argues that these failures leave a border town without proper financial oversight, market management or basic services. It is demanding intervention from the Ministry of Local Government and the Local Government Commission.
Corriverton sits at the eastern tip of Region Six, where the Corentyne River meets the Atlantic. It is home to roughly 12,000 people, and it is a gateway for trade and travel with Suriname. Its market, its roads and its drains are central to the daily lives of fishers, vendors and ratepayers. When the council that manages these things falters, residents feel it quickly.
According to the APNU, information supplied by its councillor, Anil Sugrim, indicates that the council has “failed to convene meetings for two consecutive months”. Its committees, the bodies meant to scrutinise spending and operations, have reportedly gone quiet as well. The coalition says this raises hard questions about transparency and about whether the council is meeting its statutory duties under the laws governing municipal bodies.
The most politically notable allegation is that the exclusion extends to the governing party’s own representatives. The statement claims that councillors are being “kept uninformed about the affairs and operations of the Council”, while the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Town Clerk make decisions “without adequate consultation with the wider Council”. The APNU cautions that these claims are reported and, if proven, would erode the collective responsibility on which elected local government rests. It warns that “local government must not become the private preserve of a few individuals”. The coalition adds that disengagement among PPP/C councillors suggests the frustration is not purely partisan.
The statement also lists vacancies it says are hobbling day-to-day management. The council is said to be without a Market Clerk, a Constabulary Sergeant, a Municipal Treasurer, a Senior Finance Clerk, a Superintendent of Works and a Works Foreman. For a municipality, that is a thin chain of command. The treasury and finance posts bear on how public money is collected and safeguarded. The constabulary role bears on security, and the works posts on drains, roads and the supervision of labourers. The APNU says these gaps are “not minor administrative inconveniences” and notes what it describes as repeated turnover in the Market Clerk position.
The service failures the coalition cites will be familiar to many residents. It points to inadequate garbage collection, weak security at the municipal market, and a pressing need to clean and sanitise the market, particularly the fish and meat sections and the washrooms. Municipal workers, it says, are being left without adequate supervision and institutional support. In a community where a large share of livelihoods runs through the market, the coalition insists that “Corriverton’s residents deserve a clean, safe and properly managed town” and that vendors deserve “adequate protection”.
The language of the statement is pointed. It declares that “no Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Town Clerk or councillor is above the law” and condemns any irregular conduct that may have occurred, warning against any attempt to “usurp the lawful authority of the Council as a collective body”. The statement stops short of alleging specific illegalities and frames its concerns around reports and apparent breakdowns, so the claims remain unproven.
The APNU’s demands are directed at several actors. It wants the Ministry responsible for local government to intervene within its lawful powers. It wants the Local Government Commission to carry out an urgent assessment of staffing and administrative shortcomings, investigate the lapse in meetings and committee work, and determine whether decision-making complies with the law. It wants the council itself to resume meetings, revive its committees and ensure that every councillor receives the information needed to do the job. It also seeks action on the vacancies, tighter financial controls, better market security and reliable garbage collection, along with “a clear plan, with defined timelines” for restoring capacity.
The coalition ends with a pledge: it “will not remain silent” until questions are answered, and it urged the government and Commission to act “without political favouritism”. The framing is deliberate. Local government in our country has long been a contested political arena, and both sides have accused the other of obstruction when councils have faltered. By highlighting discontent inside the governing party’s ranks, the APNU is trying to present Corriverton’s troubles as a governance failure rather than an opposition grievance.
That argument will be tested by the response. Neither the council’s leadership, the Ministry nor the Commission had publicly answered the claims at the time the statement was released, and the allegations have not been independently verified. The council’s statutory obligations are clear, however: it must meet, account for its spending and keep services running. If it has not done so, residents have every right to expect an explanation. The coalition warns that “institutional paralysis” would be the price of delay. Whether that proves accurate depends on what the authorities say, and do, next.
