“AFC no longer has a voice at City Hall” – Jaikaran

…says the party was kicked to the curb
…as Chase Green re-elected Mayor and Akeem Peter Deputy

Georgetown’s outgoing Deputy Mayor and Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor, Lionel Jaikaran says that his party has now been kicked to the curb at City Hall following the re-election of Mayor Patricia Chase Green and subsequent election of Councillor Akeem Peter as Deputy Mayor.
The Deputy Mayor made the comment after his AFC colleague, Councillor Sherod Duncan, was denied the opportunity to nominate him for the position of Deputy Mayor.
Following the Mayoral Election, Chase Green took her place at the head of the

horseshoe table and opened the floor for nominations for the position of Deputy Mayor and both Duncan and Chase Green’s People’s National Congress (PNC) colleague, Councillor Oscar Clarke, rose to nominate their candidates.
However, Clarke was allowed to nominate his choice, which was Councillor Akeem Peter, and Duncan had to take his seat. Immediately after, Councillor Ivelaw Henry rose to second the nomination after which both Duncan and Councillor Tricia Richards both stood up resulting in the Mayor asking one of them to be seated.
When they both remained standing, she was asked to recognise one Councillor and she chose to listen to her other PNC colleague, Richards, who then successfully moved a motion for nominations to be closed resulting in Duncan being denied the opportunity to speak.
It was that scenario that prompted Jaikaran’s comment, signalling some amount of bad blood between the coalition partners.
“In the process, Local Government democracy at City Hall represents that the AFC

was kicked to the curb. In other words, the AFC no longer has a voice at City Hall. I think Sherod [Duncan] would concur with me. Strong words for a strong afternoon,” Jaikaran told reporters immediately after the elections.
On Monday, Councillor Heston Bostwick brought a motion calling for Duncan to be disciplined after he accused him of unethical behaviour. The motion had to be amended to strike out Duncan’s name and substitute it with all Councillors.
When asked about what he thought of the Mayor’s refusal to acknowledge him, Duncan said Chase Green’s decision was final and she made one she saw fit.

The election
Additionally, the Georgetown municipality held its election for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor resulting in Chase Green being re-elected and young Councillor Akeem Peter elected as her Deputy.
The duo, both from the PNC, received an overwhelming amount of support from their fellow Councillors.
As opposed to secret ballot, the majority of the Councillors decided on a show of hands as the voting process.
Following the election, Chase Green stressed that the Councillors must work together to further develop the city of Georgetown.
“I know that the road going into the Local Government Elections will be especially hard. Councillor Akeem Peter and others would have asked that we work together and we all would sit here and shake our heads, but when we get out there we all know the negativity that comes from all of us if we don’t have our way,” she said.
“Councillors again, in my speech, I will ask all of you, it’s not about your ego, it’s not about you, it is about your service that you give to the people that elected you and if you could only think about them then this Council and this city of Georgetown would move to better development,” the newly re-elected Mayor added.
Additionally, Peter said he intended to work alongside Chase Green and be her eyes and ears over the next year. He said he would be there to support her, as he believed that was his function, while bringing a fresh outlook because of his youth.
He told the media that the new position would be a challenge, but it was one he was ready to accept.
“It’s a good feeling but a feeling that comes with a lot of controversy, a feeling that comes with a lot of work that has to be done. City Hall has caught itself in a place where it’s not favourable and it’s not a favourable entity to even work at. That’s one of the things for the first half of the year for my tenure that we will have to work on assiduously to correct the image of the organisation,” he noted.
The duo will officially take up their posts on April 1 when the tenure of the current Deputy ends.
A number of the other Councillors expressed best wishes to the duo, urging them to work cohesively to better the outlook of the capital city. Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson was in the public gallery to observe the election process.