New City Mayor plans to push for transparency, accountability

City Mayor, Ubraj Narine says over the next year, he will be striving to restore integrity to the council as well as ensuring accountability and transparency.

“Accountability, integrity of the council, transparency and those are (what) I want to achieve in my first year,” Narine said during an engagement with the media Friday.

Over the past years, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has been accused of mismanaging large sums of money.

In 2018, the city’s administrator Town Clerk, Royston King was investigated by a Commission for alleged mismanagement of funds for which disciplinary actions were recommended.

Former Mayor, Patricia Chase Green was also implicated in the investigations for giving King a free reign after she dismissed a motion of No-Confidence brought against the Town Clerk.

Narine, who took up office from January 1, 2019, called on citizens of Georgetown to make a greater effort to cooperate with the council.

“I want to indicate to the citizens of Georgetown…the council is here to work with them and so we can have a better environment and a better place,” Narine said.

He noted that while there are rumors about City Hall, “we need to work together, not to build walls but to build bridges.”

Asked about his vision for the council for the next three years, Narine said that has not been determined since the council is yet to pass its 2019 Budget.

“Here is a lot of vision, young people got a lot of vision (but) you can’t execute it without money.”

The newly elected Mayor, who is a member of the A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) said he has been “put there to mandate this great city of ours,” and over the past two weeks, spent his time visiting the different offices and departments that are attached to the council.

The Mayor believes that with more young people at the helm of the council, there will be major changes at City Hall.

Deputy Mayor, Alfred Mentore said at the council’s meeting, councillors will be asked to present projects within their communities which can be undertaken.

Mayor Pandit Narine was the first past the post winner for Constituency #1 in the Georgetown Local Government area, while Mentore served on the Council for the past two years.