Local gov’t commission still to act on city probe findings
-Sooba to challenge exclusion from deliberations
A month after a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the operations of City Hall submitted its report, the Local Government Commission (LGC) appears to be struggling to implement its recommendations and might soon find itself embroiled in a legal challenge.
Stabroek News understand that LGC Chair Mortimer Mingo with the support of three other commissioners have voted to have Commissioner Carol Sooba barred from discussing and implementing the report’s recommendations since they argue she has an active interest in the outcome.
The CoI has recommended that Sooba, who was dismissed from her substantive post as Council Legal Officer in July 2015, be compensated for “wrongful removal from office.” According to the report submitted by retired Justice Cecil Kennard, the lone commissioner, Sooba submitted a written statement in which she claimed that her employment was wrongfully terminated and that she should be paid her full benefits until she attains the age of 55.
While acknowledging that she wrote to the CoI without the knowledge of the LGC, Sooba contends that she can and must still contribute to the other matters under consideration.
“My matter was addressed by the CoI and I have of course agreed to recuse myself when that recommendation is discussed and/or implemented but I hold a constitutional office and the most relevant institutional knowledge of all those on the LGC so you can’t want to shut me out,” Sooba told Stabroek News yesterday.
She claimed that Mingo refused to hold yesterday’s meeting with her present and after advancing an argument that her presence would constitute a conflict of interest called for a vote on the matter.
Commissioners Mingo, Marlon Williams, Jo Ann Romascindo and Andrew Garnett voted in favour of having her removed from the consideration of the report while Clement Corlette abstained and former Minister of Local Government Norman Whittaker voted with her against the suggestion. Clinton Collymore also a former Minister of Government was not present at the meeting.
“After the votes, he demanded that I leave the meeting and I left but I am now considering my legal options because I really don’t believe they have a right to prevent me from performing my constitutional function.
Stabroek News reached out to both Mingo and Garnett for comment on Sooba’s statement but up to press time neither could be reached by phone.
Additionally thought the LGC unanimously accepted the recommendations of the CoI on December 20 and committed to forwarding the report to the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) and the Auditor General for specific actions this has not been done. It was also agreed that the council officers, including Town Clerk Royston King, who were accused of incompetence and dereliction of duty would simultaneously be invited to answer to the charges laid against them.
Since that time no action has been taken to realise any of these commitments and Stabroek News understands that this delay has frustrated some commissioners.
Hopeful
Justice Kennard, however remains hopeful.
“I have received no official feedback so far. I have all hope that they [the recommendations] will be implemented. I expected them to deal with them immediately or at least get the engine moving there is no point in setting up a CoI and not implementing its recommendations it would be a waste of time and money,” he explained to this newspaper.
According to the retired Justice he still maintains “all confidence that the commission will implement at least some of the recommendations” especially since he has received unofficial confirmation from LGC Chair Mingo that “they have begun the examination of some recommendations.”
The report has charged King with gross misconduct, abuse of office, recklessness and conspiracy among other things.
Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Harry-Munroe was charged with dereliction of duty and incompetence as was Assistant Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick.
Other officers charged include Internal Auditor Omodele Umojo-Newton whom Kennard maintained was incompetent and had conspired with King since according to a “credible source” she has been issuing contracts rather than performing audits on source documents.
Chief Constable Andrew Foo has been charged with dereliction of duty, and incompetence as has City Engineer Colvern Venture. Meanwhile Engineer Rashid Kellman has been charged with conspiracy and Human Resources Paulette Braithwaite has been charged with incompetence;
Meanwhile, City Treasurer Ron McCalman whom the CoI recommended proceed on early retirement due to illness has already submitted a request to Council for same. McCalman has been absent from duty since February and Kennard noted that to be absent from such an important position is clearly undesirable.
While he had not recommended specific disciplinary actions in any of the referenced cases Kennard noted that “most of the woes of the city are due to mismanagement by officers of the council” asking “if the main management team is incompetent, are we going to keep them in their positions?”
King was specifically taken to task for the lease of land which has been
claimed by the government holding company, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
Kennard concluded that King overstepped his bounds when he approved and signed the lease without informing council and in the process misrepresented the ownership of the property.
“The Town Clerk has no authority to issue leases. That, according to my understanding of the law, first has to go to the Finance Committee and then to the full council for approval…King had no authority to issue any lease in relation to the land at Sussex Street,” Kennard contended, adding that since the land, which was leased by King to Quick Shipping Inc, belongs to NICIL “he misrepresented that (the) City Council owned land” and performed actions which “could amount to criminal action”.
Further Kennard questioned the leasing agreement noting that in light of the bankrupt state of the Council, this rental seems a bad decision.
“The lease is for 625,000 dollars, per year which runs at approximately $52,084 dollars per month. This is prime real estate land, and this price set by the Town Clerk is ridiculous. It seems as if he has given a gift to the tenant,” Kennard concluded.
He also recorded as suspicious the manner by which Quick Shipping paid its lease and called into question other leases granted by King. Kennard specifically recommended that the State Asset Recovery Agency be engaged.
“It appeared from documents seen by the COI which were provided by the City Treasurer (ag), that the Town Clerk was reckless, in granting leases to several persons for below fair market prices. In some cases, he rented these lands for no fees to businessmen who can afford. This to my mind is a fundamental breach of his duty of care for the Council, particularly given the state of the Council’s finances. This further warrants investigation and I believe the auditors of the State Assets Recovery Agency should be called in to probe further the issuing of leases and contracts to ascertain whether the Town Clerk and other officers are benefiting from perquisite of office,” the report noted.