Longtime APNU City Councillor and Former Deputy Mayor, Alfred Mentore was this morning elected Mayor of Georgetown replacing Pandit Ubraj Narine.
New APNU Councillor, Denise Miller will now serve as the new Deputy Mayor.
Both Mentore and Miller received the full backing of their party when the new Councilors were sworn into office and met to vote for the top two positions this morning.
The APNU has 19 seats on the Georgetown City Council, while the PPP has 11.
It did not take long for the new Council to be dissolved into some confusion as the parties clashed over election to the various Committees.
Former Mayor, Patricia Chase-Greene, who is now a Councillor for the PPP clashed repeatedly with her former APNU colleagues over a number of procedural issues.
Public Affairs Minister, Kwame Mc Coy, who was present to witness the swearing in of the new Councilors was heard heckling loudly before walking out of the meeting as the new Mayor stood to address the Councl. Chase-Greene was two steps behind him.
In his maiden address to the Council as Mayor-elect, Mentore thanked the people of Georgetown, for their support saying that his party went into the local government campaigns with little resources but still managed to come triumphant.
Mr. Mentore, who lost his consistency seat, but got onto the Council through the proportional representation system, promised to be a Mayor of all the citizens of Georgetown and not just some citizens and constituencies.
“Let us reach across the aisle and work together and bury hatchet. Let us not look at who is wearing a green shirt and who is in a red shirt, let us work for the people of Georgetown,” Mentore said in his address to the council.
He said while it is hard to build a new culture, at a time when there is so much division, rancor, lack of trust, the Council must push forward, while bringing a higher level of honesty, transparency and accountability.
Mentore said before the Council is a number of serious issues, such as flooding, poor infrastructure, deplorable roads and markets, that must be addressed. However, there is need for unity in resolving many of those challenges.
“And we cannot succeed as a municipality without us working as a team. I am humbled to do my part as a captain of this team and I look forward to serving you on this team,” Mentore said.
APNU’s Lelon Saul, was also elected Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee. The other members include, the City Mayor and Councillors Troy Garraway, Clayton Hinds, Yvonne Ferguson, Tahirih Adams and Jai Singh – the lone PPP Councillor sitting on the Committee.
Chase-Greene, who was steady on her feet, challenging almost all of the decisions taken by the City Mayor, objected to him being elected to the Finance Committee.
Former Cricketer Stephen Jacobs is among the PPP Councillors.
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