Mayor Arrindell’s plot thickens

WHILE TOWN CLERK ORLEENA OBERMULLER IS CURRENTLY ENJOYING HER
WELL-EARNED ANNUAL VACATION, Linden’s Mayor Waneka Arrindell and her Deputy
Wainewright Bethune hatched a plan to force her into administrative leave as soon as she resumes duties.
The controversial scheme was unveiled at Tuesday’s statutory Mayor and Town Council (M&TC)
meeting but was resisted by some Councillors unwilling to be drawn into the ongoing tiff between the two
leading ladies in the Upper Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten) municipality without evidence of wrongdoing
except Arrindell’s rhetoric.
Some Councillors confided they refused to attend the meeting as they have reached saturation point with
Arrindell’s innuendos and personal attacks on Obermuller in a so-far-failed bid to get her removed.
One Councillor is heartbroken over the deterioration in personal relationships at the M&TC and the
increasing toxicity of the working environment because of Arrindell’s ongoing connivance.
“It’s really sickening to see how the Mayor has become and it’s even more worrying to see the Deputy
Mayor, a man who had previously stood for fairness and professionalism, has allowed himself to be
sucked in by the Mayor’s pettiness, vindictiveness' and wickedness. The Mayor is spiteful and seeking to
destroy the character of another woman. This is purely sad.”
Justifying her plot Tuesday, Arrindell rationalized to Councillors that Obermuller must be sent on
administrative leave to facilitate a probe. But when some Councillors demanded she defend reasons,
Mayor Arrindell faltered.
Another Councilor noted that the struggle between the bickering Mayor and the Town Clerk intensified
following the coalition A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) defeat at
the March 2020 polls.
“They are from the same party and I don’t know why the Mayor seems so desperate and determined to get
rid of the Town Clerk. It’s not a case where she has done something and needs to be disciplined.  This is
worrying,” the Councilor said.

For reasons unknown even to Councillors sympathetic with her cause, Arrindell seems to be in a hurry to
rid the Municipality of Obermuller whom she apparently has long branded her personal enemy.
Some Councillors, wary of the inscrutable variables driving Arrindell, abstained from voting Tuesday on
the Mayor’s polemical motion. It was bipartisan since they represented the APNU+AFC and the ruling
Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) coalitions.
The Councillors agreed that Mayor Arrindell didn’t have the authority to effect such a vote, and secondly,
she already has approved requests for investigation with the Local Government and Regional
Development Ministry, and with the Local Government Commission. They counselled she should await
those definitive findings.
Meanwhile information is still somewhat fuzzy about the outcome of Tuesday’s M&TC machinations
marshalled by Arrindell.
While Obermuller cannot be reached, a usually reliable source close to her assured she is unbothered by
Arrindell’s antics because the law is on her side.
“What is strange and frustrating over the entire situation is that the Town Clerk has not been informed as
to what are the reason/s for her being sent on (compulsory) leave. Every time they wrote seeking an
investigation, they cannot be specific or cite what the Town Clerk has done wrong and it exposes them as
these are the very people who walk around the Region and Town boasting that they have the people’s
welfare close to their heart. Yet they are desperately and continuously seeking to destroy the Town
Clerk,” the source said.
“The TC is not a foolish person; she knows her rights and she will staunchly defend it. The Town Council
is not a cake shop owned and operated by the Mayor and her friends. The TC will not speak publicly on
this right now as she will wait on the right time to let the public know what is really taking place so that
people can understand the Mayor and her deputy’s desperation,” the source added.
Arrindell plans to take her cause all the way to President Dr. Irfaan Ally “before their term
(expires) at year end,” the source confided.