Sooba blasts City Hall over lack of accountability: says parking meter system is being implemented “willy nilly”

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party on Thursday held a public forum where the deficiencies of the Mayor and City Councillors were highlighted and among the speakers was former town clerk, Carol Sooba who pointed out the need for auditing at City Hall.

Sooba said she is perplexed at the fact that there seems to be much difficulty for financial records to be audited at City Hall. She stated that in accordance with the law City Hall’s finances should be audited annually by the Auditor general’s office and also regularly by the internal auditors.

Weighing in on the controversial parking meter project, Sooba said while City Hall has provisions for a parking meter system and the control of traffic, it does not have the exclusive right to introduce the system in an ad hoc manner.

She noted too that relocation of vendors should be gazzetted as per the law.

Meantime another speaker, Local Government Commissioner, Ganga Persaud expressed the view that City Hall is an entity that is controlled by the APNU yet it continues to cast blame on other agencies for failing the citizens. In this regard, Persaud argued that The City Council ought to be in the position to provide critical services to the citizens of Georgetown.

He claimed that the PPP, while in government sought to assist with the upkeep of the city while leaving all the funds garnered from rates and taxes under the control of City Hall.

This point was reinforced by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who noted that if the PPP had not intervened into the operations at City Hall it would have been in a serious situation. The PPP is calling for greater accountability and transparency from the Mayor and City Council.

Other speakers at the Public Forum included Gillian Burton-Persaud and Joseph Hamilton, among others.