A trio of Labor and Independent Councillors at Sydney’s Liverpool City Council has today released a public statement questioning the capacity of the city’s Mayor, Ned Mannoun.
The Councillors – Charishma Kaliyanda, Betty Green and Peter Harle – say they hold serious concerns about the Mayor’s ability to make decisions that are in the best interests of the community.
“The Mayor plans to push through unpopular, unproven, and potentially disastrous staff cuts, including sacking the popular and effective CEO John Ajaka, to fund the construction of a $50 million pool in the electorate of Holsworthy, currently held by the Mayor’s wife Tina Ayyad,” says Councillor Kaliyanda.
“This is just another example of the Mayor making increasingly erratic decisions that just don’t stack up.”
In addition to potentially cutting 150 staff to fund the project, the Mayor is “desperately trying to push out current Liverpool City Council CEO, John Ajaka”, the Councillors said.
“The move to end Mr Ajaka’s contract early could cost ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and rob the Liverpool community of an effective decision-maker at a time when the community desperately needs strong and stable leadership,” their statement reads.
“Liverpool is a growing LGA, we need a Council that grows with it, to provide the services the community expects. The recruitment landscape is already difficult, Council needs to be attracting and retaining staff to suggest job cuts at this time is frankly bizarre,” said Councillor Green.
