Mayor Arrindell, Town Clerk Obermuller butt heads again

ANOTHER PUBLIC SPAT OVER MUNICIPAL SPENDING has widened the rift
between Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell and Town Clerk Orleena Obermuller.
Mayor Arrindell is insisting that she has the right to spend a $2M donation from residents in
the diaspora as she deems appropriate. But Obermuller has reminded Her Worship that
spending must follow procurement regulations.
According to information out of the bauxite-mining community, Arrindell, without providing
the statutory three quotations, has identified an auto firm to provide food hampers and
farming tools for distribution to a number of residents in the impoverished Upper
Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten) mining community of 39,500 residents.
Obermuller will not yield to Arrindell and some Councillors’ insistent demands that the auto
firm, KKR General Services, provide the agriculture tools and items for the food hampers to
those hurt by the recent floods which decimated farms and some households.
According to sources close to the spat, Arrindell became livid by Obermuller’s stance and
reportedly bellowed in essence that ‘no one will instruct her where and who she buys the
items from.’
www.aaroundtgeregions.com was able to confirm that Mayor Arrindell and KKR General
Services owner, Kirth Alleyne, are personal friends. This media house was also able to
confirm the business address is 15 Gardenia Street, Wismar Linden, and it trades in vehicle
and automobile spare parts.
Additionally, no one in the mining community reached by this media could verify the
company traffics in food supplies and toiletries that it reportedly submitted its quotation for.
Alleyne is also a very close friend of the Linden Town Council’s Superintendent of Works,
Ian Ali.
“It’s like she got into a temper as she wants the Town Clerk to sign off on this and people are
not stupid, the $2M is being spent at their friend and I am sure that the Mayor and Ali are
getting kickbacks because this man Kirth doesn’t sell food supplies. So, how all of a sudden,
he can produce a quotation for this?” a source familiar with the situation queried when
reached by this media house.

Another Lindener also requesting anonymity, expressed disgust at the blatant latest attempt at
corruption threatening to further derail the Region Ten municipality.
“I thought that with all that this Council has gone through, that things would have gotten
better. But can you imagine that Lindeners living aboard have chosen to help their fellow
Lindeners and the Mayor and her cabal want this money to be spent at a fake company? This
can’t be right, and to know that there are Councillors who are endorsing this type of
corruption is sheer madness,” another said.
The Council held its statutory meeting Wednesday and the furor created by the controversial
Mayoral demands about the $2M spending forced the meeting to run for some 8 hours.
Mayor Arrindell kept up her peremptory calls and Obermuller kept resisting.
Several Councillors backed Arrindell while heaping contempt on Town Clerk Obermuller’s
decision not to breach procurement rules. Nevertheless, the Councillors voted to force the
Town Clerk to sign off the payment for the purchasing of the supplies from what many said is
a ‘Phantom’ company.
“The Town Clerk is not someone who is intimidated easily, and this is just another plot by
Mayor Arrindell and her crew to seek at casting undue blame on (her). But, sooner than later,
the truth will be revealed,” a source close to Obermuller told this media.
A simmering tiff between Arrindell and Obermuller boiled over publicly last year when
the mayor hatched a plot to force the Town Clerk out of her job. But then, several
Councillors opposed the municipal boss who couldn’t justify the decision when
challenged.