Clarke calls for end to ‘power struggle’ at Georgetown City Hall

After close to two hours of bickering at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council’s statutory meeting on Monday, Councillor

Oscar Clarke called for an end to the power struggle.

Clarke, who is also General Secretary of the PNCR returned to the council pproximately five months after being shot by bandits at his Sophia residence.

The long-standing councillor said the constant tug-of-war between Mayor Hamilton Green and Acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba is hindering the progress of the municipality and by extension, the city.

“If the administrative head does not communicate with the political head and vice versa, we will get absolutely nowhere,” Clarke stressed, as he took the two leaders to task for allowing petty politics to interfere with the council.

Personal grievances

He said the council will only grow and execute its mandate if the mayor and acting town clerk put aside their personal grievances and work as a team, operating in a professional manner.

“As a member of this council, I would like to see this council operate in a manner that would allow decisions to be taken on matters and for the execution of those decisions to be carried out in an orderly and structural manner,” he stated.

“I appeal for good sense to be prevailed,” Councillor Clarke concluded before taking his seat. Clarke’s remarks were met with applause and approving nods of heads in support.

Clarke’s comments stemmed from a prolonged argument between Sooba and Green over a letter sent to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).

Mayor Green had accused Sooba of failing to submit a draft report to him, following the council’s recent meeting with GPL which resulted in an exchange of multimillion-dollar cheques that cancelled a significant portion of the debt the entities owe each other.

The power company had handed over a cheque to the tune of Gy$ 25 million to the municipality for rates and taxes owed in 2013, while the council, which is currently struggling to keep its head above rough water, managed to pay a meagre Gy$ 42 million on a Gy$ 1.090 billion debt.

However, during the statutory meeting, Sooba informed the council that a letter was already sent to GPL based on the agreement made at the meeting.

According to her, she saw no reason why Mayor Green should have given a preview of the letter before it was dispatched, since a decision was already made at the meeting when the council consulted with GPL. However, she informed the council that a copy of the letter would be sent to the mayor.