New Chair of Scrutiny Commission Announced, sort of.

The resignation of Cllr Daniel Lee Phakoe led to a vacancy as Chair of one of the scrutiny commissions. Labour was due to select its candidate on Monday 16th. Two members threw their hats into the ring; the current Chair of Labour Group, Lakmini Shah and relative newcomer, Thelma Odoi, a maths teacher. 

It was evident from the start that Odoi was the favoured candidate of the mayor.

What, observers wondered, would be the outcome? In the Group elections a few short months ago, those opposed to the mayor took every position by a majority of almost 2:1.

In the event, Shah was elected as candidate for the role Chair of the Scrutiny Commission.  Labour retains 58 members of the council with four opposition councillors and one vacancy. This means, with a whipped vote, Shah is destined to become the newest scrutiny chair.

The result became known just before the council meeting on the 16th October. For some reason, the Group officers have chosen not to release the voting numbers, so it is unclear whether the battle was close or whether Shah registered an overwhelming vote.

Quite why the Group officers have chosen not to release the figures to the members of Group is a matter for conjecture. So, we will conject. It might just be that the figures were so one-sided as to be an embarrassment to the mayor, this would suggest that Shah polled better than 2:1.

If so, it would be yet another humiliation for Mayor Fiaz, who sees both her credibility and support dwindling.

Irrespective of the reason, it is somewhat strange for Group officers to withhold information from Group members in this way. Group members might want to ask “why?”