Last week, City Councilor Mark King declared war on his Mayor Zenaida Moya, accusing her of unauthorized spending, nepotism and mismanagement of public resources. And while he had the righteous indignation of a fish from river-bottom, he didn’t have any documentary evidence. And when Mayor Moya opened the files for press purview on Friday, she seemed to have taken the upper hand. But an anonymous source – that we’ll say seems to be working in lockstep with King’s campaign, or at least singing from the same song-sheet, yesterday sent an envelope-full of documents, offering proof for some of those very same allegations that King made. Tonight we look at one of them.
[August 21st, 2008]
Mark King, City Councillor
“When the government won Hon. Boots Martinez came to the City Council and said, “Look man mek I help unu out.” He said I’m gonna give you trucks, I’m gonna give you tractors; I’ll give you manpower.
All you have to do is provide the diesel and the food. Mayor Moya saw things differently. She wanted to pay a certain person thousand dollars each time they needed equipment to take care of the city.”
Helen Castro, wife of Deputy Minister of Works Edmund Castro is that certain person. Here are three invoices she sent to the City Council on behalf of C. Bailey and Associates the company which owns the bulldozers. They are for three weeks of work between 30TH June and 16TH. July at $4,800 per week, totalling $14,400. Today Mayor Moya declined comment, and would only say that those bills have not been paid.
Indeed our checks show that the money has not been paid, and sources suggest to us, that because of the threat of a scandal it might not. The bulldozer was used to manage the city dump site – after the city’s bulldozer expired inside the dump.
As for Mark King, he blazed out against Moya last week, but like a meteor that burns bright and dies fast, we are told that at this hour, his future as a City Council candidate is being decided at a meeting of the party council. On Friday, the Prime Minister that he would wish for King to go out as he said he would, committing political seppuku. But, maverick that he is King, it appears, isn’t going out like that as he last night paid for an advertisement advertising himself for another term of office at City Hall. We’ll see how it goes.
