Finance Minister responds to Mayor Narine

See the full letter by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh below:

Dear Editor,

Government has noted in the Friday, June 9 Edition of daily newspapers,  a letter with the headline “The PPP Government owes City Hall more than $1 Billion in rates and taxes and the Administration is not paying”  by Mayor Ubraj Narine – abject failure as Mayor of Georgetown, in which he attempts to mislead the people of Guyana through deliberate misrepresentation of facts pertaining to the management and accountability of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC).

Ubraj Narine’s letter on June 9, 2023, pathetically attempted to distort and discredit the facts stated in the Guyana Chronicle article of June 8 titled “An accountable City Hall stands to gain massive support from central gov’t – Jagdeo”.

In the Mayor’s letter of June 9, he poorly attempted to cloud the facts surrounding audits of the finances of City Hall by claiming “I have written to the Auditor General requesting an audit of the accounts of the Municipality… I have never received a response to my repeated request”.

This is a blatant lie given that the Auditor General would have informed the Town Clerk (ag.) of the status of the Audits. The 2021 Auditor General’s (AG) report on page 95 states that the last audited Financial Statements for the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown was in 2004. The Auditor General also highlighted that he has not received financial statements for a number of years including 2020 and 2021. In addition, the Special Audit Report of the Auditor General for the years 2019 and 2020, sent on 28 April 2022 to Ms. Candace Nelson -Town Clerk(a.g.), states “Financial statements were submitted for the year 2018 and 2019. However, they were subsequently returned to M&CC on 27 August 2021 for non-compliance with International Accounting Standards” It must be noted that these periods directly relate to Ubraj Narine’s tenure as Mayor. How can one reasonably expect the Auditor General to perform his duties, if the M&CC fails to supply the information necessary to carry out the Audit?

In his letter to the Press, the Mayor made the outlandish claim that Central Government has provided paltry sums of money to maintain the capital city. This is farthest from the truth. In fact, the PPP/C government has provided significant support to the citizens of Georgetown, some of which include:

• During the period 2020 to 2022, the Government expended over $6 billion to construct and rehabilitate roads in Georgetown;
• Between 2020 and 2022, the Government expended  to reconstruct and rehabilitate bridges;
• During the period 2020-2022, the Government expended $1 billion to enhance the Old Railway Embankment, $1.6 billion on enhancement works along Independence Boulevard, Cemetery Road, and Internal Roads, Albouystown, Georgetown; and $250 million on enhancement works along Kingston Seawall;
• Between 2021 and 2022, expended to operate and maintain the main drainage system in the municipality;
• Between 2021 and 2022, the Government expended $600 million to upgrade the water transmission lines in Georgetown;
• The Government expended $510 million on Solid Waste Management that benefitted the citizens of Georgetown
• The Government has committed $779 million for the restoration of the iconic City Hall building.

And the list goes on. The lack of accountability by M&CC necessitated these interventions be undertaken directly by Central Government, as it was clear that resources for these developments would have otherwise been squandered and mismanaged by the Mayor and his team.

Ironically, in terms of the Mayor’s accusation that Government owes the M&CC rates and taxes, the Mayor has failed to mention that the M&CC in fact owes the following to Government Agencies:

• Guyana Power and Light Inc. – $3.2 billion
• Guyana Revenue Authority – $1.7 billion in taxes for the period 2016 to 2023, representing outstanding PAYE which was deducted from employees but never remitted to the GRA. As an employer, M&CC has a legal obligation to deduct and remit such to GRA in a timely manner.
• National Insurance Scheme –$387 million owed in NIS contributions as at end of April 2023, jeopardising workers benefits.

Further on in his letter, Ubraj Narine ranted that the PPP/C Government has wilfully refused to do property valuations that would have resulted in the citizens paying higher rates and taxes. Here he exposes his party’s plans, some of which have been coyly used as reverse psychology in his party’s Local Government Elections (LGE) campaign utterances. In examining this statement and based on the APNU/AFC’s accusation in its current LGE campaign that the PPP/C will increase rates and taxes, this statement clearly indicates that it is instead the APNU/AFC that intends to do this.

This is the nature of APNU/AFC, to repeatedly claim that they will cut taxes when, to the contrary, as has been demonstrated in their previous term in office, they instead did the opposite and imposed over 200 taxes and fees including taxes on electricity, water, medical supplies, education services, and construction materials and equipment.

We should not be surprised of the dishonesty of Ubraj Narine and the APNU/AFC who have demonstrated their blatant disregard for the principles of transparency and accountability, pillars upon which democratic governance in modern societies are based.

The General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo highlighted the support that Central Government has provided to the citizens of Georgetown, and with a supportive Georgetown Council the lives of the citizens of Georgetown can be improved at a faster rate. The PPP /C Government has and will always stand on the side of transparency and accountability and safeguarding our sacred Constitution. Our record is clear to see.

Regards,

Hon. Dr Ashni Singh, M.P.

Senior Minister in the Office of the President

with Responsibility for Finance