Dear Editor,
There is no dispute – the Parking Meter Contract is opposed by a vast majority of the citizens of Georgetown and of Guyana as a whole. The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) is responsible for this fiasco. While it is City Hall in Georgetown which is implementing this horrendous contract, APNU/AFC is making it possible.
I suspect Guyanese citizens will come out in force to protest and reject the parking meters. It is an obligation of the political parties and their leaders to state unequivocally what their position is. I am calling, therefore, for each political party to state their unequivocal position on parking meters and the newly amended Parking Meter Contract and By-laws.
The toxic Parking Meter Contract, unfortunately, is back, auspices of APNU/AFC. The People’s National Congress (PNC) threat, as expressed by Oscar Clarke, that the parking meters cannot be stopped is vulgar and insulting. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillors have expressed their opposition and, as far as I know, their position reflects the position of the PPP. The PPP, like their Councillors at City Hall, is opposed to the parking meters, at least as far as I am aware of. Clearly, given the position of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and Oscar Clarke, we know that the PNC, and their creature, APNU, not only support parking meters, they want an imposition regardless of what the citizens feel. But what is the official position of the AFC and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA)? Are these political parties political opportunists, waiting to see which way the wind blows?
The AFC, which has seen its autonomy usurped by the PNC (APNU), has a unique opportunity to demonstrate some guts and to show that they can stand up for the right thing. I know that certain Councillors with AFC labels, example Councillor Duncan, have expressed their dissatisfaction about parking meters for Georgetown. But I would like to hear the official position of the AFC, as well as the WPA, now.
Make no mistake the Oscar Clarke edict that nothing can stop the parking meters comes out of the belly of the PNC. While there might be a spattering of opposition within their ranks from certain Councillors, the APNU/AFC machinery will ensure that they force the parking meters on the people.
Will the AFC be a willing poodle or will they demonstrate spine and object now?
The City Council has made it clear that parking meters will become a part of daily living, no matter what citizens think. Oscar Clarke arrogantly declared that citizens can huff and puff, but they cannot stop the parking meters from being introduced now. In his own way, he made it known that no matter how many people protest and no matter how much noise in the world they make, nothing can stop City Hall from imposing parking meters. The PNC has spoken and they fully expect that the APNU/AFC machinery must follow the edict fully.
Clarke’s blunt, if vulgar, warning to the citizens of Georgetown and of Guyana is not shocking. He sits as a Councillor at City Hall to ensure that the PNC-hegemony is unchallenged; his position reflects the position of Congress Place. He acts totally within the ambit of the PNC and in accordance with the PNC’s dictatorial DNA. In the PNC-world, City Hall is a creature of the PNC and must act accordingly. Thus, when Mayor Chase Greene and Deputy Mayor Peter, together with the City Clerk Royston King, act as if there is a divine right to impose parking meters, it is because they envisage those divine rights to have emanated from Congress Place and delivered by Clarke, as if he is Moses.
In the end, this fiasco is wholly the making of APNU/AFC. It might be driven by Congress Place and the PNC, but the fiasco cannot be disowned by APNU/AFC. They must carry this albatross forever.
Yours truly,
Dr Leslie
Ramsammy