Deputy Mayor And Mayor Are In Laws, Is It Nepotism? |
Fri, March 7, 2025 |
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And though it's a fair criticism that Miller only got the deputy's post through the endorsement of his father in law, he maintains that it's not about the endorsement, it's about the work he's put in.
And while this may be a significant milestone for him he also says that he has not explored other political opportunities like in Freetown for example -where he is rumored to be a possible successor to Francis Fonseca:.
Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor
"A lot of people have tried to make that my brand that I am the mayor's son in law, but I refuse to be diminished to just that. Like I said earlier I have worked persistently I've had to work through so much adversity. I grew up in a situation where I moved from municipality to municipality every 2 to three years given my father's role as a public officer. So given that alone I had to persevere through that and I always had to work extremely hard to be successful through that."
"I worked in the finance department here at the council for just over a year and a year later the opportunity was presented to me by the mayor to serve as his aid and I was sharing with my council members earlier today that its quite funny because I was serving in the finance department over the year and I never crossed paths with the mayor not one day. In fact I never knew what the third floor of city hall looked like throughout my time here in the finance department. But the previous city administrator, Mrs Garbutt, she recommended me to the mayor as a good prospect to be his aid and so he extended that opportunity to me and so that is where our professional working relationship developed. And so I mentioned it in our council meeting today that a lot of people have tried to make that my brand the mayor and I we have a personal relationship yes I've never denied that, that has been public knowledge and it was public knowledge when I went into the convention I placed well in the convention, it was public knowledge when I went to the polls and I was successful at the polls I really think that our residents care about people who work extremely hard for them and that has been proven."
"In terms of Freetown I have been very supportive of my area representative Honourable Francis Fonseca. Him and I, we share a great professional relationship and I've been on the campaign trail with him. In fact I am one of his executive committee members, and so as long as honourable Francis Fonseca aspires to be our area representative he has my full support and I mean that."
We note that at the recent PUP convention, Miller introduced the Freetown delegates during the roll call.
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