Dear Editor,
Nominations for the Local Government Commission (LGC) are set to close on April 12th. I have a recommendation for the Opposition PNC to consider seriously to be on the LGC. I think that former mayor Pandit Ubraj Narine has what it takes to be one of the two nominations in the PNC’s hands. He could put his five years as the head of the Georgetown municipality to good use, and for the benefit of citizens, not just those in the capital, but across other municipal zones, given the national purview of the LGC.
As most residents of the capital city know by now, former mayor Narine had to weather many storms during his term in office. He would have had to find ways to deal with the challenges of his job operating under the hovering shadow of the LGC. Unless he was severely handicapped, which is doubtful, I think that the former mayor gathered a wealth of experience about how this country’s main municipality, and its arguably most demanding one, works. At the very least, he must have gained some familiarity with municipal rules, the power players, and the contours and bottlenecks of how a municipality functions.
Among a host of other challenges, those had to be part and parcel of a day in the life of a Georgetown mayor. As alluring as it may be, I wouldn’t want that job for a million dollars a day (perhaps in another currency, yes). But I digress. My point is that the PNC would have a knowledgeable and spirited agent on the LGC, He could be an asset to the commission itself, a plus for the opposition party, and what stands in good stead for Guyanese, be they resident in the struggling capital or elsewhere.
In addition, there is a fair to good probability that former mayor Narine, (if he earns the nod of his party leadership) would be rubbing shoulders with some familiar faces from his mayoral past, who may be given an extension on their LGC tenure by the ruling PPP. This could have some value for when all the memoranda have been written, the emails have been sent, and the drafts of this and that circulated, it is people that make these things work. Have the right people in the right places and the results are usually about what is right, all related circumstances given their proper weight. Right for the most important constituent of all.
That would be forever citizens of this country, and not for the maneuvers of some party or leader. The right people on the LGC, in my scrapbook, means people who are clean, that is, incorruptible. Former Mayor Narine has had to absorb his portion of blows, but I have never heard of corruption being one of those. This gives him a presence of serious merit for the LGC. Generally speaking, if there is interest in these commissions and boards and bodies of like standing, then people like Ubraj Narine have their roles to play. I think that the former mayor should be given a chance. He will deliver.
Yours truly,
GHK Lall