Mayors and Town Clerks across Guyana, on Wednesday met with members of the Communities and Finance Ministries, at the Tower Suites Hotel to discuss issues surroundings local government in Guyana.
The all-day meeting saw deliberations which were held under the theme “Strengthening financial management for sustainable municipal development.”
Department of Public Information (DPI) spoke with several Mayors and Town Clerks who praised the consultative initiative of the two ministries.
Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green said the morning discussion was very thought-provoking, especially since it drew attention to policies and processes that should be implemented as it relates to financial management.
“We have recognised that auditing has not been done for all of the municipalities over a number of years…we talked about expenditure, procurement and the policies that more or less are supposed to be in place,” Mayor Chase-Green said.
She alluded to the session as a learning experience as she was able to gain clarity on several matters.
“I hope the Ministry will have more of these sessions to bring mayors, town clerks and finance chairmen all up to date on the policies we ought to have in place…especially those places with internal auditing,” she said.
Mayor of Bartica, Gifford Marshall commended the Communities Ministry for organising what he described as an instructive session for all municipalities.
“Financial management remains a major concern for all of the municipalities. And being one of the new municipalities (Bartica) it’s an area in which we need capacity building and training,” Marshall stated.
He added, “Meeting the relevant persons from the Ministry of Finance and Communities would have impacted us and we look forward to more meaningful sessions like this.”
Also, Mayor of Rosehall, Vijay Ramoo explained that he has been advocating for gatherings like these for some time now, and is more than elated to have attended this consultation.
“This session is very informative for me. I think it is the way forward for municipalities. Last year I told the minister, these are people who do not know about local government and if you do not educate them you will not get the services, they won’t be able to deliver…but today dealing with finance is important and that I am proud of,” the Rosehall mayor explained.
The Municipalities are expected to enhance their financial management from the discussions at the all-day meeting.
