Muradali takes over in Sando Thursday

Dr Navi Muradali will preside on Thursday over his first statutory meeting as San Fernando mayor. Muradali, the Congress of the People’s (COP) choice for mayor, has succeeded Marlene Coudray, who was sworn in yesterday as a Senator and as Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development. Coudray submitted her letter of resignation as mayor, effective June 24, to CEO of the San Fernando Corporation Deodath Ragoobar. Muradali had been deputising for Coudray while she was on bereavement leave for her daughter Michelle Coudray-Greaves, who was murdered in Jamaica. The law provides for the deputy mayor to succeed immediately, if the mayor resigns. A deputy mayor and two aldermen, one from the United National Congress (UNC) and one from the COP, will be elected on Thursday.

The two aldermen will replace Coudray and former alderman Kenny Phillip, who resigned from the council earlier this year. Muradali, in an interview, said although the law said he would succeed straight away, he was still seeking Ragoobar’s guidance since that was new territory for all of them. The new mayor said one of the first things he wanted to do, once he was properly installed, was to have a past mayors’ council, where he could draw from the strength of all those who served before him, to make San Fernando a model city. He also said he would go on a “Meet the City” tour, a series of walkabouts to all the nine electoral districts, with the elected representatives, to see first-hand the most pressing issues and expedite the remedies.