By Svetlana Abrams
Although threatening to take legal action against the government for blocking an amnesty intended to rake in millions of dollars in rates and taxes for the City Council, the Mayor of Georgetown Alfred Mentore today said he is open to having discussions with the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, and Local Government Minister Anand Persaud with the hope of finding an amicable solution to the issue.
Days after the City Council announced an amnesty on interest for those who owe their rates and taxes, the Government blocked the move.
“I am hopeful and optimistic that good sense prevails between the different sides, local government and central government, so that we can resolve this. I am not one to wash dirty linen in the public. I want to be able to work and find common ground and common solutions for everyone and ideally, the best way of treating with these things is having dialogue and discussions,” the City Mayor told News Source today.
The City Council was hoping to use the money gathered through the amnesty period to offset the more than $1.4 Billion it owes to the Guyana Revenue Authority. A Court ruling recently ordered the City Council to pay over the money owed to the GRA.
The City Council explained that in an attempt to accumulate the funds, the City Council voted in favour of offering an amnesty on the interest accumulated on the accounts of rate payers. But the Government stepped in through the Local Government Minister, and blocked the Council from moving forward with the amnesty.
On Tuesday, the Attorney General defended the decision of the Government.
“The City Council is an elected body. They make decision by vote. It is not our intention as a government to interfere with the autonomy of the City Council. But the City Council like every other agency in this country is bound by the law,” the Attorney General said.
The Attorney General said it was based on his advice that the Local Government Minister wrote the Town Clerk, requesting critical information on the reason for the intended amnesty, and the regulations under which it was being granted.
“The Minister was not asking for whimsical and arbitrary information. The minister was asking for the Town Clerk, who is the Chief Executive Officer, to show that the legal requirements set out in the governing statute are being met, or are being complied with by the Mayor and City Council. And, one would have expected that a simple undertaken for the Town Clerk to embark upon, apparently it not,” Minister Nandlall said.
The Attorney General warned that should the Council proceed with the amnesty in violation of the law, the Government will hold the Council accountable for the money waived.
But the City Mayor, while noting that he is prepared to provide clarification on the proposed amnesty, told News Source that failure to reach an amicable solution can land the two sides in Court on the grounds that the Government infringed on the powers of the elected Council.
“A council’s decision not a Mentore decision or a Mayor decision, a council’s decision is as good as a decision made by a Cabinet, a decision made by a president in an executive capacity because a council when it makes its decision, it becomes an executive decision made and it is a decision that is autonomous,” the City Mayor said as he called for the decision of the elected council to be respected.
He said the Council will meet soon to decide on the way forward.
The cash-strapped Georgetown City Council has routinely offered amnesty periods to tax payers. This is the first time that a Government has stepped in to block the move.
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