Duncan flays King 9
GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, October 11, 2016
‒ says Gov’t has to do damage control for all his decisions By Vidya Ramnarine DEPUTY Georgetown Mayor Sherod Duncan has criticised the management style of Town Clerk Royston King, accusing him of micromanaging the affairs of the council and producing only “flawed” decisions. In an interview with this newspaper on the sidelines of the fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall on Monday, Duncan made clear that he has no personal issues with King, but that his constant disagreements with him go to the root of how King manages. During that statutory meeting, King announced that City Hall was finally able to pay wages and salaries for the month of September, and that stipends for councillors would become available today (Tuesday), although they should have already been paid. But Duncan is of the view that, come what may, workers should be paid on time. “We have a contractual arrangement with them, and we have to meet that obligation. We cannot keep going forward where every month we are paying them late, two weeks late and all of that. I think if we value our workers, we will put all systems in place to pay them on time,” he said. On the matter of the garbage situation, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has again said she is dissatisfied with the current situation, wherein heaps of garbage can be seen piled
Town Clerk Royston King at Monday’s meeting
up on City streets. Again, Duncan said the decisions taken so far by the administration have been found to be indecisive; as, at one time, the services of the private contractors are suspended, and at another, they are rehired. “I am concerned about the garbage situation. We are indecisive in how we are moving forward. The public is complaining and we are creeping back (into) that same unkempt state,” said the Deputy Mayor. NO CONFIDENCE Duncan said he talks to the Mayor consistently on a range of issues, and that he has found her to be very cordial and professional. “I have found her to be a professional, and I think she has tremen-
dous institutional knowledge because of her time spent at City Hall. She’s someone I respect highly, but whom I disagree with on occasion.” But Duncan could not say the same for the Town Clerk.
“I have no malice against the Town Clerk; nothing against the man and the person. I know little of him, but what is glaring is his management style and the way in which he leads,” Duncan stated. He said King’s attitude became evident from the moment he moved the vendors from the Stabroek Market Square. “And I think Stabroek Market is more disorganised now than it was before they were moved,” he declared. Duncan also spoke about the issue of the container fees. “We implemented it without being adequately advised by the legal counsel on the matter. We took members of the public to court, the court threw out the matter; that comes as an embarrassment to the Mayor and City Council. “Look at the flea market: when we organise it, nobody turns up. The vendors have lost confidence in the Town
Clerk. Look at how we pay wages and salaries. This is the 10th of the month; it was supposed to be paid since the 26th of last month. The movement of the vendors from Robb Street also comes on the shoulders of the Town Clerk. “Look at the parking meter contract: the Ministry had said if there were no procurement and tendering procedures followed, the contract should be scrapped. The Finance Ministry said that the contract is ‘onerous’, the President said it is ‘burdensome’. The President also said the removal of the Robb Street vendors was ‘reckless’,” he said. According to Duncan, if an employee has all of these negatives stacking up against him month after month, the decision to hire him has to be examined. He said there are many other similar issues that the council has had to
deal with. “Every time we try to implement something, there is push-back from the public, or the Government has to step in. Who can lead like this? You are micromanaging somebody, because every decision that you make is a flawed one, and that is a cause for concern. If you have an employee and every decision that employee makes you have to go and correct him consistently, something is wrong. And six months more of this and it might as well (be) as (if) we didn’t even have Local Government Elections; because the Government has to keep stepping in in every instance in every major decision that has been made,” Duncan stated. The unfinished Kitty Market, Albouystown Clinic, and Merriman Mall -- where vendors are still without the promised light and water -- were some other projects to which Duncan made reference.
Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan finds Mayor Patricia Chase-Green very cordial and professional
Cane Grove murder trial continues As the Mulchand Murilall Cane Grove murder trial continued in the High Court before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow and a 12-member jury on Monday, the state called its final witness, after which it closed its case against the accused, Hamid Latiff, called “Crapo.” The witness, Rajesh Liloutie, called “Alligator Man”, testified that on Friday, November 8, 2013, he was at the home of the Murilalls when the mother asked him to accompany her daughter, Bhagmattie Murilall, called “Vashtie”, to the police station. He related that he was a family friend of the Murialls and had known Vashtie since
she was a child growing up, but admitted that he knew the deceased only a week before the murder. Liloutie told the court that after they returned from the police station, he accompanied Vashtie to the wedding house, and they had stood on the road looking in at the happenings after she had gone to a nearby shop to make a purchase of kerosene. He said that Mulchand, called “Tato Boy”, came over to them and asked for cigarettes, after which he left and sat a short distance away, near a trench. Liloutie testified that he saw “Crapo” “shove something in Mulchand, then throw him overboard.” The witness
told the court that at that time he did not see what “Crapo” had shoved in Mulchand, nor did he see the deceased do anything to the accused. Liloutie related that they attempted to go over to Mulchand, but “Crapo” rushed up to them with a knife in his hand, which he described as being about 12 inches long. He said Crapo told them that he “gon kill all two of we”, after which he shone a torchlight in his face then he ran away when “Vashtie” hid behind him. Liloutie noted that it was about four minutes later that they got to Mulchand and pulled him from the trench, and he was “panting for breath” and covered in blood.
Meanwhile, under cross-examination by Defence Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos on Monday, Liloutie told the court he did not see any injuries on the accused on the night in question. After this testimony, a voir dire (a trail within a trial) was called for, but the no-case submission was over-ruled by Justice Barlow; then the accused, Latiff Hamid, called “Crapo”, was asked to lead his defence. He, however, elected to give an unsworn statement from the prisoner’s box, stating that “Rajesh was the one coming to attack me with a knife”, and he “shove the lil boy overboard.” The matter continues to-
day for closing submissions by both state and defence counsels. A witness led by the defence is also expected to testify. The state’s case is being presented by Siand Dhurjon and Shawnette Austin, while the defence is represented by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos. Police, in a press release, said they were investigating the murder of Mulchand Murilall, 16, of Patwah Scheme, Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara, which occurred at about 21:00 hours on November 8, 2013. It was reported that Murilall was confronted by his sister’s reputed husband, who was armed with a knife, and
during the confrontation, he was fatally stabbed to his chest and under his left arm. “The suspect then attacked his reputed wife, but she was rescued by residents and escaped unhurt. The suspect escaped from the scene, but was arrested by the police at Springlands, Berbice, at about 09:00 hours a day after the murder, the release said. According to information received, the teenager had followed his sister to a nearby shop after learning that her estranged reputed husband was stalking her. On their way back, the young man stopped at a wedding house not far from their home, and it was there that he was attacked.