President Irfaan Ali yesterday met Linden Mayor Dominique Blair and councillors over the removal of revenue earned from the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge and the Kara Kara toll booth, hours after Local Government Minister Priya Manickchand formally revoked the 2016 by-laws authorising the latter collection.
The meeting ended without a final agreement, and the Linden Mayor and Town Council was asked to provide additional information on its income and financial arrangements at a second engagement scheduled for today.
In a statement following the meeting, Blair said it provided the council with an opportunity to outline its concerns and seek clarity on the implications of removing the two revenue streams.
“Preliminary information was provided on current income and financial arrangements. However, additional information was requested and this would be provided in a subsequent meeting to be held (today),” the mayor said.
Blair distinguished between the toll collected at the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge, which he said is governed by the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge Act, and the Kara Kara toll booth, which operated under by-laws gazetted in 2016.
The municipality said its concern went beyond the amounts collected, since the revenues helped it to maintain essential services, fulfil its statutory responsibilities, sustain employment and respond to the needs of communities across Linden.
“Councillors remain resolute in advocating for the preservation of revenue streams that are critical to the Council, and more importantly, in highlighting the consequences that any reduction will have on the residents of Linden,” the statement said.
The council also invoked articles 75, 76 and 77 of the Constitution in support of its position on the administrative and financial autonomy of local democratic organs.
Article 75 provides for local democratic organs to be autonomous and capable of making decisions binding within their jurisdictions, while Article 76 allows Parliament to provide for regional councils to raise and dispose of revenue for the benefit and welfare of their areas.
Article 77 provides for regional development programmes to be incorporated into national development plans and for the government to allocate funds to enable their implementation.
Blair said elected councillors had a duty to ensure that the voices of Linden residents were heard and would continue to press for transparency, clarity and a sustainable arrangement that took account of the council’s financial position and the likely consequences for residents.
“The Linden Mayor and Town Council remains committed to constructive dialogue. At the same time, we will continue to firmly advocate for the interests of Linden and its residents,” the statement added.
No statement on the outcome of the meeting had been issued by the Office of the President up to last night.
Revocation
Meanwhile, the revocation of the Kara Kara toll by-laws is contained in Order No. 172 of 2026—the Linden Town Council (Toll) (Revocation) By-Laws 2026—which was published in an Extraordinary Official Gazette dated September 1.
The order was made by Manickchand under sections 304 and 305 of the Municipal and District Councils Act and states that the Linden Town Council (Toll) By-Laws 2016 “are revoked”.
It further provides that the revocation came into operation on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. The instrument was approved and signed by Manickchand on September 1.
The order revokes the 2016 toll by-laws in their entirety. It does not address the separate bridge toll which, according to the municipality, is governed by the Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge Act.
The Gazette’s publication came after the council challenged Manickchand’s instruction to discontinue the Kara Kara collection and called on the government to produce the legal instrument supporting the decision.
Kiskadee Watch reported yesterday that Blair maintained that the council had been collecting the toll under valid by-laws and that an administrative instruction could not, by itself, extinguish the authority granted by a gazetted instrument.
The mayor also disputed assertions that there was no legal authority for the collection and pointed to the Linden Town Council (Toll) By-Laws 2016.
The council said it was not objecting to residents or businesses receiving relief from toll payments. Its concerns were whether the prescribed legal process had been followed, the absence of consultation and how the municipality would replace the revenue.
Former Linden Mayor Sharma Solomon, writing separately on his Facebook page, said his concern was not whether the minister possessed supervisory responsibilities in relation to local government, since those powers were established under the Municipal and District Councils Act.
Rather, Solomon said, the issue concerned the way that authority was exercised, compliance with the legally prescribed process and the effect of the decision on the financial viability and autonomy of the municipality.
He warned that the loss of toll revenue could deepen the council’s existing financial difficulties and affect its ability to deliver services.
Former Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell, in a separate Facebook statement, had also argued that if the 2016 by-laws had been repealed, revoked, amended, superseded or otherwise rendered legally ineffective, the public should be shown the relevant legal instrument.
Arrindell said an administrative instruction could not substitute for the formal process required to revoke gazetted by-laws. She also stressed the importance of transparency and respect for the lawful authority of elected local democratic organs.
Order No. 172 is the legal instrument that the council, Solomon and Arrindell had called for, but the question of replacement revenue remains unresolved.
The original by-laws were approved in August 2016 by then Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan and published in the Official Gazette on August 20 of that year.
They authorised the council to impose tolls on 18 categories of vehicles, particularly those transporting fuel, lumber and merchandise through Linden. The charges ranged from $2,000 to $7,000 and were initially projected to earn the municipality at least $3 million monthly.
The Kara Kara toll has since been an important, though at times controversial, source of revenue for the cash-strapped council. In 2021, when Arrindell was mayor, she and then Deputy Mayor Wainewright Bethune raised concerns about declining collections.
Figures cited at the time showed revenue falling from approximately $92 million in 2017 to $32 million in 2020. The officials called for closer scrutiny of the operation and improved systems to account for the money collected.
While the September 1 order has removed the council’s authority to collect tolls under the 2016 by-laws, the government has not publicly announced how the resulting shortfall will be met.
That issue, along with the removal of the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge toll revenue, is expected to be considered when the President and the council meet again today.
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