Criteria used to dismiss Linden Town Clerk applicable to Royston King

Mar 30, 2017 News

The basis under which the former Town Clerk of the Linden Mayor and Town Council Ms Jonellor Bowen was dismissed by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan could be applied to Town Clerk of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, Royston King, said Sherod Duncan..

Though the two individuals would have committed different acts, it is the view of outgoing Deputy Mayor of the Georgetown Municipality Sherod Duncan, that King’s actions to a greater extent warrant a dismissal. However, King remains in his post.

Ms Bowen’s dismissal was communicated to the press last Thursday via a statement released by the Minister. According to Bulkan, in his deliberative judgement he took the decision to revoke the appointment of Bowen, who served as Town Clerk of the Linden M&TC.

The M&TC in July 2016 had attempted to move a no confidence motion against Bowen. The motion which was proposed by councillor Deron John and seconded by councillor Neola Rogers, garnered the support of 10 councillors. Only two councillors present had voted against the motion at the council’s statutory meeting.

According to a statement which was circulated at the time on Bowen’s performance, her performance and management of the council’s affairs had become of great concern to the council.

The decision to have the ‘no confidence’ motion arose out of issues which occurred over a period of time, the release indicated. It added that some of these issues had been noted and discussed by the Mayor and councillors.

Following the ‘no confidence’ motion a Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the issues raised. During this period she was sent on five months administrative leave by the Council.

The CoI had recommended that Bowen be reinstated because the motion did not satisfy the correct procedure and was in effect unenforceable. However, the report by the CoI had raised an issue about the way in which the former Town Clerk handled a European Union grant which caused the council to lose in excess of $115M.

Other issues which were highlighted included the manner in which Bowen handled gratuity, NIS remittances and pensions for employees of the Council, allegedly leaking confidential information to the public and the accuracy of minutes presented to the Council.

It was reported in the media that Minister Bulkan was displeased with Bowen’s attitude following her reinstatement. He described her as being disruptive. After being dismissed Bowen had told media operatives during the People’s Progressive Party Civic press conference that she received the letter of dismissal on Friday March 17, 2017.

Based on these issues concerning Bowen, Deputy Mayor of Georgetown, Sherod Duncan, is of the belief that there are more than enough reasons which justify the dismissal of current Town Clerk of the Georgetown M&CC, Royston King.

Duncan said, “I think the Town Clerk went much too far in his actions over the last two weeks and our Government must act. I know the Municipality of Linden has had some challenges with its Town Clerk as well but comparing their actions is comparing chalk to cheese.

“Our Town Clerk’s actions deliberated orchestrated and calculated to defy the directives of the Government, this is unprecedented and a national embarrassment.”

Duncan said that he believes the government must act in the best interest of the citizens of the city. The Deputy Mayor had recently said that King should do the honourable deed and resign. When asked if he believes that King would do such, Duncan said that the Town Clerk “would do so if enough public pressure is brought to bear.”

The Deputy Mayor had said that the events in the tenure of the Town Clerk are not isolate and when collated they conclusively show that King has disqualified himself from a useful role in the municipality going forward.

He cited the removal of vendors from the Stabroek Market in May 2016 as a poorly thought out decision which the Council’s Marketing and Public Health Committee is still trying to fix. The removal of the Robb and Alexander Streets vendors were also deemed arbitrary.

“While no one disputes that the Stabroek Market environs needed reorganization, absent a clear plan, the urgency and manner of the vendors’ removal was unnecessary. It took the intervention of Minister of Social Protection and the Minister of Communities to stabilize the crisis created, pleading for City Hall to be “sensitive” to the plight of the vendors, so harsh was the heavy hand of the Town Clerk.”

Further, Duncan said that on the issue of the Metered Parking System, perhaps one of the most poorly thought out proposals and a project negotiated by the Town Clerk is now colossally binding the municipality.

“President David Granger characterized its original cost to consumers as “burdensome”, the Ministry of Finance deemed parts of the contract with regards to taxation as “ignorant”, and the Attorney General’s Chambers described other aspects of said contract as “onerous” on citizens. These charges fall on the shoulder of our Town Clerk.”

The implementation of the container fee was another poorly conceptualised and implemented mechanism and is still to be realised, Duncan said. He said that Magistrate Annette Singh requested City Hall to withdraw the matter from the court where a number of businesses successfully argued that the fee was arbitrary and unlawful.

He added, that on the issue of the Georgetown Restoration Programme, there were a number of instances which the Auditor General had flagged where there was no evidence of payment vouchers being certified or instances where approval of the City Treasurer was not seen and other instances where there was no evidence of the Finance Committee approving for tens of millions of taxpayers’ dollars.

Ultimately, the outgoing Deputy Mayor is of the strong belief that King’s actions warrant his immediate resignation or sacking.