Acting Town Clerk of Georgetown, Candace Nelson is among four City Hall officials facing a joint bribery and corruption charge that was filed against them by a Stabroek Market vendor.
Nelson, along with Clerk of Market Sherlock Lovell; Assistant Clerk of Market Melroy Gordon, and Senior Revenue Clerk Shellon Green are charged with bribery and corruption, contrary to Section 332 (m) of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01.
In the private complaint, Bertrand Thorn of Area K Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD), deposed that from 2009 to August 2022, at the Stabroek Market, Water Street, Georgetown, they allowed Terrence Joshua Bidajhar to sell alcohol, play music and solicit females all day.
When the quartet appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, bail was granted to each of them in the sum of $10,000. Georgetown City officials have faced numerous scandals in recent times.
In December 2022, outgoing Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine was charged and placed on $200,000 bail for allegedly attempting to excite racial hostility.
The two charges stem from certain remarks the Mayor had made while protesting the removal of vendors from the positions they occupied in front of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) at New Market Street in Georgetown on Monday, December 12, 2022. The matters are ongoing at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Backed by the vendors, Mayor Narine lay on the roadway to prevent trucks from carrying away the vendors’ food caravans and stalls.
Mayor Narine descended into making a series of serious accusations against President Dr Irfaan Ali, including that the Head of State is creating an Islamic State in Guyana.
Narine had gone to the area after the Public Works Ministry had initiated action to remove vendors occupying spaces along New Market Street, between Thomas and East Streets, following notices that they were impeding the flow of traffic in the vicinity.
Remarks uttered by Georgetown Mayor Narine, accusing the President of creating an Islamic State, were vehemently condemned by Government, the private sector, and civil society, among others. His comments were met with immediate backlash and calls for his immediate resignation on the ground that he was unfit to hold such office.
Narine, who is a pandit, was also rebuked for his statement by the Guyana Pandits Council and its affiliates, which vehemently condemned the utterances he made.
