Sando Mayor considers legal action against critics

File: Mayor Marlene Coudray

Marlene Coudray is warning her critics that she is considering legal action against them.

The San Fernando mayor gained national prominence some years ago when she successfully sued then Prime Minister Patrick Manning who had been trying to arbitrarily transfer her from her job as CEO of the San Fernando City Corporation. 

Her lawyer was Anand Ramlogan, who was in private practice at the time.

Coudray is the central focus of a two faceted battle. On one side the Congress of the People (COP) is demanding her removal from office saying it is something that was agreed among politicians in the People's Partnership.

COP began making its demands the moment Coudray announced that she had left COP a long time ago and was going to run for a post in the national executive of the United National Congress (UNC). On March 24 the UNC membership elected her as one of the party's three deputy leaders.

On the other side are the councillors in San Fernando who are trying to force her out of office through a no confidence motion.

The people who are driving that are deputy mayor Dr Navi Muradali and  former UNC councillor Darren McLeod, who quit his party last week and has decided to sit as an independent.

So far councillors have failed in their several attempts to move a vote of no confidence in her as mayor. Last Thursday’s statutory meeting was aborted after councillors failed to approve minutes of a previous meeting. It was the third time in as many months that this happened and councillors have said the mayor is dragging things to prevent the corporation from voting her out.

McLeod told reporters Tuesday, "The council is intent on passing the motion of no confidence against her, but according to the constitution that cannot be done after the 24th statutory meeting. 

“We have three more meetings before we reach that deadline. Last Thursday’s was the 21st meeting and I suspect she will continue to frustrate the next few meetings until we reach the 24th when the no-confidence motion cannot be passed,” he added.

Coudray responded by telling the media Muradali and McLeod have been trying to frustrate her. However she warned that she will not be intimidated.

"They should understand they cannot put pressure on me. The deputy mayor and the councillor have been on a crusade, in terms of disrupting the council and bringing the mayor and the office of mayor into disrepute by some of the utterances they have been making to the media, all of which are incorrect and untrue," she said.

“They have continued on that course and it is unfortunate that the provisions in the Local Government Act cannot effectively deal with it but there is also the court one can go to for redress,” she said. 

She added: “They have been making very slanderous statements and the media have been printing it. What I have been doing over the past week is gathering all the newspaper clippings.

“I have written to the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago seeking the tape of certain media broadcasts. I have spoken to my attorney. It is a little lengthy but I am dealing with it,” the mayor said. 

She said she also has minutes from the council meetings, which she said would prove that all of the accusations against her are "malicious and mischievous."