Minister Kwame McCoy’s statement, issued to do the government’s dirty work, is a masterclass in Orwellian doublespeak. It dresses up a brazen, unconstitutional power grab in the flimsy language of “urgency” and “action,” while carefully ignoring the central government’s own calculated role in crippling this municipality.

The thesis is simple, and the people of Georgetown must understand it clearly: This brutish behavior, this trampling of local democracy, must not be allowed to stand.

The Hypocrisy of “Urgent Action” After Deliberate Sabotage

Minister McCoy speaks of “years of successive administrations presiding over the decline of the city” with a straight face, as if his government is a mere bystander. This is a grotesque falsehood. The central government has systematically strangled the Georgetown City Council financially.

Where is the “urgency” when it comes to ensuring wealthy supporters of the PPP pay their fair share of taxes and rates? For years, this administration has encouraged a culture of impunity among its connected business elites, creating a regime where loyalty is rewarded with tax exemptions, while the municipality is bled dry. The “chronic flooding” and “collapsing drainage” McCoy bemoans are the direct results of an engineered funding crisis. You cannot starve a body of resources and then express shock when it becomes emaciated.

The question for Minister McCoy is not why we are in this state, but why didn’t the PPP do this before? Why only now, when political posturing is convenient, does the “transformative agenda” require bypassing the elected council? The answer is clear: this is not about fixing Georgetown; it is about seizing control of it.

“Inclusive Governance” as a Euphemism for Authoritarian Takeover

The Minister has the audacity to speak of “inclusive governance” while his government unilaterally creates a “multi-agency team” to execute a plan conceived in secrecy and imposed by diktat. To claim that incorporating two of our technical officers into their task force constitutes “inclusive governance” is an insult to the intelligence of every citizen. It is not collaboration; it is conscription. It is an attempt to lend a veneer of legitimacy to what is, in essence, a hostile takeover of municipal functions.

Our “welcome to engage” is conditional on our surrender—on laying down our constitutional authority and accepting a subordinate role in our own jurisdiction. This is not an invitation to partnership; it is an ultimatum from an overbearing central power.

The Real “Political Gamesmanship” is Coming from Freedom House

Minister McCoy accuses us of “political antics” and “spectacle.” This is pure projection. The real spectacle is a Minister of the central government penning a lengthy diatribe to justify why democracy must be suspended for our own good. The real “tired political tactic” is the PPP’s age-old strategy of creating a problem, through underfunding and legislative neglect, and then presenting itself as the sole saviour from the very crisis it manufactured.

His statement is riddled with the language of a regime, not a government. Phrases like “we are not interested in mere rhetoric,” “we are firm and determined,” and “there is no room” are not the words of a partner. They are the words of an autocrat dismissing dissent. He brands our defense of our constitutional role as “obstructing progress” and “hugging power,” a transparent attempt to pathologize democracy itself.

We Must Not Legitimize This Illegitimate Power Grab

To the people of Georgetown: do not be fooled. A government that genuinely respected you would work with your elected representatives, not demonize and bypass them. It would ensure the council was properly funded, not deliberately impoverished to create a pretext for a takeover.

We must not be complicit in the demolition of our own authority. We must not “join” a process designed to render us irrelevant. We support the Town Council and stand by the mandate, granted by the people of this city, and we must use every legal and democratic tool at our disposal to resist this assault.

The accountability to ‘we the people’  is to protect our right to local self-governance. We must not surrender that right to Minister McCoy, or to any other agent of a central government that believes it alone holds the monopoly on vision and civic duty. This brutish behavior must end here.