‘Mayor of all the people’- Mentore talks healing, teamwork in inaugural address

Though defeated in his constituency at the just concluded local polls, Alfred Mentore was selected by his party and elected Mayor of Georgetown on Thursday.

He replaces Ubraj Narine.

After serving on the Council for several years, including in the capacity as Deputy Mayor, he took up the post promising to work to regain the trust and confidence of the people and called for teamwork among Council members to ensure a better life for all.

The 30-member Council is split 19 seats for the APNU Coalition and 11 for the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

“… I can assure you that as leader of this team, I will do everything in my power to earn your trust, build relations and extend an olive branch to our PPP councilors here and central government leaders to work to improve the city’s infrastructure and bring a better life for all,” Mentore pledged in his inaugural speech to the Council on Thursday.

Mentore further assured that with the accession, he is fully aware of the importance of the Mayor’s office and the responsibilities that follow.

However, he admitted that it is “hard” to build a new culture in a new direction when “we have so much healing [to do], division [to overcome]… and a lack of trust to deal with.”

Emphasizing that matters of the Council will be transparent and accessible to all, the newly elected Mayor of Georgetown stated that the Council has nothing to hide.

As such, he is supportive of the live streaming of Council meetings. The PPP/C had proposed live streaming of council meetings as a manifesto promise.

“I personally would support and I am sure whenever we meet as a Council, we would like to support live streaming of these meetings for the stability of these meetings, for the transparency of these meetings. So that people must understand, this Council ain’t got nothing to hide,” Mentore said.

As Mayor-elect, Mentore said he believes it is time to ‘bury the hatchet’ of the past and for the Council to work together.

“Let us turn a new page and let us find a way to reach across… and find ways in which we can be able to work together and build this city,” he urged.

Over time, there have been repeated calls in the city for new leadership to address a number of long-standing issues.

“We have serious issues of flooding, we have serious issues of infrastructure, we have serious issues of markets, poor and damaged roads that urgently need attention. As such, we need a strong sense of teamwork…We cannot succeed as a municipality without being a team,” Mentore admitted.

Asked about what strategies he will employ to address these issues, Mentore told the News Room that the Council will first discuss with the various constituency leaders who have direct relations and understand the needs of their constituency before they can “brainstorm ideas” and come up with a plan to tackle them.

He secured a total of 19 out of 30 votes. His competitor was PPP/C Odayson Ashby who secured 11 votes. Mentore was nominated by APNU member, Gregory Fraser and seconded by Tahirih Adams

Meanwhile, APNU representative Denise Miller was elected for the post of Deputy Mayor.

PPP/C councilor Jairnarine Singh was also nominated for this post but the APNU used its majority to vote against him.

Before the elections were held for these key posts, a total of 30 councilors who make up the new Municipal Council of Georgetown were also sworn in.

They are:

1. Alfonso De Armas Archbold
2. Tahirih Adams
3. Odayson Ashby
4. Bishram Bipat
5. Jewula Ceasar
6. Aileen Chalmers
7. Patricia Chase-Green
8. Kibwe Copeland
9. Eslyn David
10. Jason David
11. Rudolph Dyal
12. Trowes Ellis
13. Yvonne Faguson
14. Dexter Forte
15. Gregory Fraser
16. Troy Garraway
17. Winston Harding
18. Clayton Hinds
19. Mohamed Isfehani
20. Steven Jacobs
21. Robert Maison
22. Alfred Mentore
23. Denise Miller
24. Jeffon Muhammad
25. Leon Saul
26. Kesha Satimo
27. Jai Singh
28. Phagoo Singh
29. Kyle Solomon
30. Dion Younge