Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 19, 2009 News
– promises early report
“I am not going to rush this process to please anybody,” said Commissioner of Inquiry, Keith Burrowes, when he met with the heads of departments of the Georgetown municipality on Monday at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown.
The three-hour-long forum represents one of the many meetings that the Commissioner has held with the officials, as it relates to deriving possible ways in which the operation of the municipality could be improved.
And, though the investigation into the operation of the municipality, which was prompted by the findings detailed in the 2007 Auditor General’s Report, has been ongoing for almost six months, Burrowes is optimistic that the process is close to the end.
“We are close to the end because it is becoming overwhelming for me personally. It is becoming very taxing… The argument now could be that I have gone outside of the Terms of Reference, but that is just a reality because I had to deal with some of the issues before I could come up with a reasonable conclusion.
“This is a 100-year institution… even if you were to look at only two aspects because of the complexities involved it would be overwhelming… and you don’t know that until you get there and face the dynamics… and so it is important that in order to be fair you have to go through the process of meeting.”
Initially Burrowes had divulged that the inquiry was being challenged by the unavailability of relevant information, a situation he disclosed has improved considerably, as the officials have been more open at the several fora that were previously held.
“I had to drag it out of them during meetings… The reason I had to have more than one meeting with them is because nothing is documented; I had to get everything from them. But I believe that the process helped them to understand the importance of the uncovered data.”
Burrowes had earlier cited the lack of an established system to accurately provide financial data and the non-availability of necessary information as the main hindrances that have prevented the completion of the inquiry into the affairs of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown.
The process, which commenced last September, was expected to have been completed within three months, but turned out to be a bigger task than was anticipated. According to Burrowes, this led to the extended time frame.
According to the Commissioner, he will be meeting, on Friday, with Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall, under whose purview the Commission was established, with regards to his findings. The report, he added, will be completed soon after.
The report, according to Burrowes, will outline recommendations that, if utilised, could better the functioning of the municipality, and another section which will focus primarily on the findings of the Auditor General’s Report as it relates to the culpability of the offices of the Town Clerk and the City Treasurer.
“This process unfortunately took some time, but everything that I have recommended to them, the Minister and the Government have to accept first. If it is accepted I have no doubt in my mind that there will be improvements.
“In fact, one of the things that I have observed recently is that there are a number of initiatives that the council is moving on which I know for a fact came out of our discussions.”
But, even if none of the recommendations are accepted, Burrowes noted that he will remain convinced that the process was a valuable exercise, simply because of the process which allowed the officials to be introspective and to be able to address issues that have eluded them previously.
He noted that with the right leadership the municipality would be poised to becoming a manageable entity. (Sharmain Cornette)
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