Second term for Georgetown Council begins with same Mayor and new Deputy

By Mark Murray

Patricia Chase-Greene will officially begin serving once again as the City’s Mayor while her new Deputy will be another Alliance for Change (AFC) representative, Lionel Jaikaran.

According to Town Clerk Royston King, today’s (April 10, 2017) Special Statutory Meeting of the Council was called to mark the end of one year and the beginning of another.

The New Deputy was given a warm welcome to his post by fellow Councillors who banged on the table in support of him being elected to that position.

In his remarks, Jaikaran said his new journey being a part of the Georgetown Municipality is one that was not “chartered” in the direction to one day become Deputy Mayor.

However, he praised both of his parents for their influence in his early upbringing which led to him being the responsible and humble individual who is serving his community at another level.

“I would also like to thank my predecessor, Mr. Sherod Duncan for his invaluable help and guidance for the past year. He has been a tremendous assistance, and I have come to respect his advice and judgment,” said Jaikaran.

He also added that “having assumed the responsibility of this honourable office I hereby pledge to you the citizens of Georgetown to carry out my duties in fair, honest, and transparent manner and inherence to the office.”

Jaikaran while committing to support the Madam Mayor, warn that there will be a time that they will not agree on matters about their offices and even then “we must agree to disagree in a respectful manner.”

The year in review was read by Mayor Chase-Greene who spoke of the many challenges encountered by the young Council.

She said her career at the local government level “has not been a very smooth one, even now with this present administration. The road is still not a smooth one, we don’t expect it to be smooth all the time, there will be hurdles, there will be challenges but around this table, we have to jump those hurdles, and we have to meet those challenges to get to the goals we would have set.”

“For the past year I have been reading my 28:01 (Laws of Guyana: Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01) now more than ever before,” said the Mayor. Aside from listening more to the views of Councillors the Mayor also pledged “to working with everyone” since according to her the individuals that make up the Council are not seen to her as members of a political party.

The life of the present Georgetown Council will come to an end in 2019 which will be the due date for the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE).

The last LGE was March 2016 breaking a two-decade of such elections not being held creating the way for the then Mayor Hamilton Green to step down from that post.