Duncan to contest Green for position of Georgetown Mayor

By Ramona Luthi

As the time approaches for the Georgetown Mayoral Elections, Deputy Mayor of Georgetown, Sherod Duncan   has stated that he will be contesting against present Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green for the position.

Duncan explained to Inews earlier today that a “special” Statutory meeting is expected to be held between now and December 12, 2016, whereby either Chase-Green will be re-elected by the City Councillors as Mayor, or a new Mayor will put in place.

Duncan stated that though Chase-Green has not been in power for a complete year, the election is being held to “come into conformity with the Act.”

The annual internal elections are for the purposes of electing the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the various municipalities and is in keeping with Chapter 28:01 of the Municipal and District Council Act.

“The Act says that elections for Mayor must be held by December 16 of every year, that is why the election will be held so soon,” the Deputy Mayor explained.

Chase-Green was elected Mayor of Georgetown on April 1 of this year, after serving numerous years in the position of Deputy Mayor, while Duncan, who was serving in the position of an APNU/AFC Councillor, was appointed Deputy Mayor.

However, since then, the two have always held opposing opinions regarding the affairs of the city. The most notable is Duncan’s opposing stance on the controversial parking meter project that was handpicked for implementation by Mayor Green and others.

Back in July, the public was informed that the Deputy Mayor was not provided with the benefits that the Mayor and Town Clerk received. This included transportation, and Duncan has made it public that he was forced to utilize a bicycle as a means of reporting to and from the office, whereas, the Mayor and Town Clerk were appointed a vehicle and driver.

Chase-Green had stated that this was because she was not granted these luxuries in her position as Deputy Mayor. However, many had contended that this was her way of “punishing” Duncan for his stance taken against the implementation of the Parking meters in Georgetown.

Thus far, of the nine municipalities across the country, eight have already submitted their dates for internal elections.

The Corriverton Mayor and Town Council was the first to hold elections on November 24, which resulted in a tie between current Mayor, Ganesh Gangadin and Deputy Mayor, Krishnand Jaichand.

That tie is expected to be challenged at new elections which is scheduled for Friday, December 2, 2016.

Internal elections at the Municipality of Anna Regina were held on November 29 with Mayor, Rabindranauth Mohan and Deputy Mayor Darshan Persaud being re-elected to their substantive positions.

Mohan reported that the elections came off as planned without any major hiccups.

The Lethem Municipality is scheduled to hold it elections on December 1, followed by Rose Hall on December 7 and Linden on December 8.

According to Lethem’s Town Clerk, Keisha Vincent all plans are moving apace for tomorrow’s elections.

The Municipalities of New Amsterdam and Mabaruma have scheduled elections on December 14, with the Bartica Mayor and Town Council announcing its elections for December 15. All elections are expected to be completed by December 16, 2016 as stipulated by law.

So far, eight of the nine municipalities have also submitted their approved budgets to the Ministry of Communities.

Work programmes which are applicable for the year 2017 were expected to be submitted to the ministry by November 15 for purposes of notification.

According to the Ministry of Communities the work programmes are also to be prominently displayed by the Council’s for members of the public to peruse.