APNU, PPPC Councillors isolate City Mayor over contractor’s cleaning of Mash route

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 February 2025, 19:22 by Writer

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) Georgetown City Councillors on Tuesday isolated Mayor Alfred Mentore, telling him flatly the Mashramani 2025 route was not properly cleaned by a contractor.

Up to Tuesday afternoon, numerous pallets, old refrigerators and litter were seen, for instance, along Vlissengen Road and Irvine Street, Georgetown.

Mayor Mentore seemed quite hesitant to categorically conclude that the route was properly cleansed following the passage of the costume and float parade and several areas where spectators had set up tents, platforms with wooden pallets and other paraphernalia.

Mr Mentore even questioned whether the wooden pallets that were left behind amounted to garbage. “I don’t know that garbage includes pallets,” he said. 

After Town Clerk, Candace Nelson reported that the City Council earned GY$10.3 million from Mashramani and the contractor’s cleaning fee for the route was GY$950,000, APNU Councillor, Yvonne Ferguson kicked off discussion about the quality of the cleansing exercise. She reported that there were pallets, fridges and bags of garbage on Vlissengen Road and in cross streets. “The last Mash when we had the Council clean the place, next morning when you wake up and you walked that area, everything was clear, very, very clean,” she said. In contrast, she said City Hall contracted the post-Mash cleaning but now garbage-filled bags were left behind. The Mayor said “at least” the bags would be collected.”

PPPC Councillor, Steven Jacobs told Mr Mentore, “Mr Mayor, there is no way you can defend that,” adding that the canal between Irvine and Vlissengen Road contained garbage and there were bottles at the roundabout. Mr Jacobs said, in contrast to a newspaper article quoting the Mayor about the clean-up works, called the Minister of Local Government, Sonia Parag informing her of the state of the “ridiculous” condition of the roundabout. He said the government later deployed workers to clean the area. “If we are contracting out these works, they need to do it properly…If we are saving, it must not be at the expense of the Ministry of Public Works,” he said.

APNU Councillor, Clayton Hinds told Mayor Mentore, an APNU representative, that “the work was not properly done; that’s the final analysis.” Retorting, the Chief Citizen said, “those are assumptions”.

Mayor Mentore seemed inclined not to blame the c0ntractor for an incomplete job. “I don’t know that that is a responsibility of the person. The persons who brought all those pallets…the smaller vendors, they don’t carry away their stuff,” he said. In that regard, he recommended that contracts with small vendors require them to take away their pallets “or leave a retainer sum to take it away and if they don’t take it away, we take it away and we keep the money.” He said the big companies had already carted off their waste.

The Mayor said he received “conflicting” information about who was responsible for various parts of the Mash route and the extent of the work that had been done overnight. He said he was busy preparing for Tuesday’s Council meeting and did not have an opportunity to check back. “Persons are saying that there were black bags left and so on and so forth which should not have been,” he said.

The Town Clerk informed the Mayor that the contract binds the vendors to remove the waste, prompting him to ask “what is waste?” to which she responded. “As long as it’s there, well then it’s not needed so it’s waste.” She said City Council trucks on Tuesday morning removed some of the garbage bags that were left on Church Street.

APNU Councillor, Dexter Forte expressed concern that a number of persons had built platforms in the canal with pallets to hold barbecues. He said the engineers department and city constabulary should keep an eye out for the platforms.