City Mayor threatens legal action against government for blocking amnesty

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 October 2023, 20:00 by Denis Chabrol

Georgetown Mayor, Alfred Mentore on Saturday threatened to take Central government to court for blocking an amnesty that the municipality had hoped to use to raise funds to pay off income tax debts to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

He said the City Council would first discuss the matter before deciding whether to challenge Local Government Minister, Anand Persaud’s decision to veto the amnesty that the elected local government body decided on September 26, 2023.

“Your Worship the Mayor intends to call an emergency meeting of the Council and present all options available for democratic discussion and decisions on the way forward including the adjudication of this matter in the High court of the Supreme Court of the Judicature, if necessary,” he said.

The Local Government Minister, in a letter to Town Clerk Candace Nelson dated October 16, 2023,  said in keeping with the Municipal and District Council Act, he wanted to first see the financial regulation that authorises City Council’s decision “to offer amnesty on interest accumulated on the accounts of ratepayers and the grounds upon which such decision is based.” “I hereby request that you halt this alleged amnesty forthwith while the lawfulness of this purported amnesty is interrogated,” he said.

He said efforts were made to discuss the matter with the Local Government Minister, but to no avail.

Mayor Mentore said that “proactive measure” to grant an amnesty was agreed to after he and executive Finance Committee members met with GRA Commissioner General Godfrey Statia.

Mr Mentore blamed Central Government for failing to pay its debts to City Council and so stifles the work of maintaining and rebuilding Georgetown. “In blocking the attempts of the Council to meet its obligations to the GRA, the PPP/C are showing their true colors, this is the care they talk about; they are deliberately hampering the livelihoods, benefits, and well-being of staff and their families whom are affected by the non-payment of their PAYE,” he said.

He said the People’s Progressive Party Civic was emboldened by their perceived gains in the 2023 Local Government Elections and was now engaged in a long-term plan to “get your properties into the hands of their investment friends who are seeking every square inch of the City’s landscape; it is the same old duplicitous PPP/C, that says one thing but does another.”