Difficult for gov’t to work with ‘unaccountable’ City Council – Jagdeo

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday voiced his criticisms of the financial management of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC), explaining that it is difficult for the central government to work with the officials there.

“…They have been running that place and running it down for a long period,” Jagdeo said during a press conference hosted at the People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C) Georgetown headquarters, Freedom House.

According to him, the Council has not updated its asset register since 2000 and it has “large gaps” in completing auditing statements. And he accused councillors of being involved in clandestine or corrupt deals instead of fixing issues faced by residents of the capital city.

The Vice President posited that it is difficult for the government to work along with an “unaccountable” City Council.

“The government pays over a subvention to the city, it pays its taxes…but you expect us to hand them money for a road or a canal (when) our experience has been if you hand them money, they will spend it on something else other than a road or the canal?”

“You expect us to work through an unaccountable city council?” he quizzed.

PPP/C Councillor Don Singh, in August, told the News Room that the M&CC is cash-strapped and needs an urgent injection of finances to run the city for the rest of the year.

He, however, highlighted that no financial audit was done in more than a decade and no budget was done for this year. The last M&CC budget, which was in excess of $2 billion, was approved in 2022.

Regardless of the issues at the City Council, Jagdeo said the government is keen on addressing the issues faced by residents and it can do so on its own.

Further, he said much of the issues already resolved in the city, including fixing roads, drains and stop lights, were ventures taken on by the government.