Branded as ‘saboteurs’ shocks Mayor Ubraj Narine

GOVERNMENT MINISTERS SHOCKED GEORGETOWN MAYOR UBRAJ NARINE
by branding them municipal sabotage against the 10-month-old Irfaan Ally administration.
Three members of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) turned up to what they believed was a
private meeting with Mr. Nigel Dharamlall, Minister of Local Government and Regional
Development. Instead, Mayor Narine said his team which included Deputy Mayor, Mr. Alfred
Mentore and City Engineer, Mr. Colvin Venture, were ambushed by reporters.
The verbal scuffle between the two sides renewed following the recent heavy flooding in parts of
the capital city. The government, through Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, accused the
Municipality of orchestrating the deluge for political milage.
“Rubbish,” said Mayor Narine in response.
The Mayor said he accepted Dharamlall’s invitation to help thaw relations between the ever-
clashing sides, and not as a participant in the minister’s political theatrics.
An M&CC press release said, “Mayor Narine and the City Engineer updated the Ministers of
Government present, Minister of Agriculture Hon. Zulfikar Mutsapha, Minister within the
Ministry of Local Government Hon. Anand Persaud, Minister within the Ministry of Public
Works Hon. Deodat Indar and Minister Dharamlall on the status of kokers and pumps that are
necessary to drain water from the city and the efforts of the Council to maintain the drainage
infrastructure”.
It said the M&CC team reminded government representatives that between 2015 and 2019 the
Government and the Municipality worked together to ensure the residents and businesses of
Georgetown were not significantly affected by flooding during the rainy season.
“The Mayor also stated that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (now Ministry of Public Works)
cleared the alleyways in the city and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA)
provided support to the City drainage and maintenance programme”.

The Georgetown Mayor urged the Ministers of Government to avoid making the decades-old
problem of the flooding into a political one, stressing that he preferred a solution-based
approach. He noted further that the city lies below sea level adding that climate change continue
to see above-normal rainfall. The Mayor stressed that only a collaborative approach will ensure
that our citizens are safe and damage and inconvenience reduced.
“The M&CC requires over $1B annually to maintain drainage canals and kokers, and another
$500M to maintain the pumps. The municipality collects just over $700M annually in taxes of
which $264M are required to dispose of residential and commercial solid waste,” the release
quoted Mayor Narine informing Minister Dharamlall and team.
He also encouraged the Minister for both Government and Opposition Legislators to work on
changing the bylaws to increase revenue collection to enable the Council to fulfil its mandate
adequately. It added that the Mayor and City Council continues to prepare for the rainy season
with emergency allocations and requests for collaboration with all agencies.
“The Mayor encourages the Ministers to work together with the Municipal Authority to
move Georgetown forward as it plays its role in developing and maintaining the capital
city.   He stresses that in times of national emergencies we must as patriots co-operate for
Guyana and the M&CC stands ready and willing,” the release said.