Re-elected Holland promises to continue pushing Linden’s development -apologises to councillors to move forward in unity
Following his re-election, Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland is promising to continue championing the town’s development.
Holland was re-elected by majority when the town council held elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor on Thursday.
Holland was nominated by Elise Benjamin and the nomination was seconded by Keron Williams. Young councillor Devin Sears was also nominated to serve as mayor by councilor Lennox Gaspar and the nomination was seconded by Fern McCoy. However, Holland won the election after six of the councillors voted for him, while two voted against and one abstained.
Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindell was re-elected unopposed.
“I certainly believe that God is on my side and I believe that he orders my steps and it solidifies my faith in him because without him I could not have gone through or be returned as mayor in light of all the negatives that was being put out there without me defending it,” Holland said.
In recent weeks, there were reports in the media that several councillors did not like the way in which Holland went about doing his work. Although he said the reports were baseless, Holland on Thursday nevertheless offered an apology to his fellow councillors in order for them to move forward and work together for the betterment of the town.
“I stood and said whatever differences we have, let me take the high road and let me apologise and let me be the one to say I’m sorry in order to move forward, so we could have a better working relationship,” he added.
Holland pointed out that since he took up office there has been significant progress within the span of a few months as compared to the previous years. “I believe we are seeing progress coming out of the efforts that the council has been making. We’ve had visits from various investors and I believe that these persons are seeing the benefits of investing in Linden and I will keep on championing the cause of making Linden better.
He added that his return to the mayorship is a victory for the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) party. “We were under severe testing from the opposition, who would’ve managed to successfully infiltrate persons from within the system and managed to successfully get persons to go otherwise and I believe it’s a victory for the PNC and shows that the people of Linden remains strongly behind our party and the councillors remain strongly behind the PNC,” he said.
In terms of changes he needs to make, Holland said that he plans to meet with the citizens of the town more often to be able to relate more closely with them about their wants and needs. “I spend a lot of time building capacity inside the council, so when you get out there you hardly get to meet people and now I am going to ensure I meet with the people every week,” he said.
He also pointed out that he has made some changes and he will now be heading the finance committee, while the Deputy Mayor will be chairing the administrative committee, which was formerly chaired by councillor Gaspar.