By SEAN DOUGLAS Wednesday, August 5 2009

CHAGUANAS Mayor Natasha Navas yesterday moved to block Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday from using borough offices to meet constituents from the Chaguanas West constituency, whose MP Jack Warner has been described as a dissident.

After last Wednesday’s UNC national executive meeting at Rienzi Complex Couva, Panday vowed to use the office of Chaguanas Deputy Mayor Orlando Nagessar at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation (CBC), to meet constituents to get a feel of their needs.

This as Panday, the Couva North MP, aims to make good on his promise to be the “surrogate father” of Chaguanas West which he claimed was not being represented. However, Navas moved swiftly to block Panday.

At a meeting of councillors and aldermen, Navas read out a memo seeking to restrict the use of the borough’s property to strictly CBC affairs. Saying the CBC exists to serve all the burgesses, free of political bias, Navas said under the law, corporations must operate “freely and independently of any external influences.” The CBC, she said, must act transparently with an agenda set by the collective effort of all councillors and aldermen.

“Our agenda must be apolitical. I encourage all members to ensure there is no favouritism and/or nepotism in the discharge of our functions,” Navas told the meeting. She reiterated that CBC offices must not be used for party politics.

“I further encourage you to ensure that there is no attempt to use our offices for political meetings or for planning political strategies,” Navas said, adding that such an act would violate councillors’ oath to act conscientiously and impartially.

She decried any effort to use state resources for political gain. Navas said her memo was not a direct conflict with any council member but simply an attempt to set guidelines. “It comes at a time when there are numerous reports in the media of plans to provide certain active politicians with office space and resources to engage the public. Such reports, if accurate cannot and would not obtain the support of the Borough.” She promised to raise this matter at the CBC’s next statutory meeting.

But Panday was unfazed. The UNC leader said he still intends to meet Warner’s constituents tomorrow morning at Nagessar’s office. “The function of public office is to serve the public and that’s what the office is being used for. I don’t know of any law to qualify who shall serve the public, and how, and when, and where,” Panday said. He said he was not changing his plans.

He confirmed he had discussed the matter with Nagessar, but could only speak for himself publicly. “I simply have a job to do and I must do it.”