New mayor and cabinet appointed - but controversy continues

 Cllr Saray Karakus is the new Mayor of Enfield

Enfield Council met on 23rd May for the first time since the elections at the start of the month, electing a new leader, mayor and deputy mayor.  The names of new cabinet members were also announced.  However, as was the case with the new council leader, the choice of new mayor has attracted some criticism.  There is also continuing controversy within the Labour Party locally about the processes which resulted in the appearance of many new faces among the Labour councillors and the choice of a new leader.

Conservative Group abstains

As expected, the Council meeting elected Cllr Nesil Caliskan as its new leader, following her unexpected selection as leader of the Labour Group.  She will be the borough's first female leader.

The choice of Cllr Saray Karakus as the new mayor also came as a surprise, since she was among the new councillors elected for the first time this month.  This failure to follow the convention of selecting an experienced councillor as mayor led to the Conservative Group choosing to abstain rather than voting for the governing party's choice, as is usual.

No such controversy attaches to the choice of Deputy Mayor, as Kate Onolue has a very distinguished record of public service - she was conferred an honorary Freedom of the Borough of Enfield in 2007 and served as Mayor in 2012/13.

New Cabinet appointments

The new Cabinet comprises: 

• Deputy Leader: Cllr Daniel Anderson
• Children’s Services: Cllr Achilleas Georgiou
• Finance & Procurement: Cllr Mary Maguire
• Housing: Cllr Dino Lemonides
• Property and Assets: Cllr Ahmet Oykener
• Environment: Cllr Guney Dogan
• Public Health: Cllr Yasemin Brett
• Health & Social Care: Cllr Alev Cazimoglu
• Community Safety & Cohesion: Cllr Nneka Keazor

Enfield's new Cabinet. Front row, l to r: Mary Maguire, Daniel Anderson, Nesil Caliskan, Yasemin Brett, Alev Kazimoglu; back row l to r: Achilleas Georgiou, Ahmet Oyekener, Nneka Keazor, Dino Lemonides, Guney Dogan

The cabinet includes several new faces (though only new to the cabinet, not to the council) and all but one of the councillors retained from the last cabinet have new responsibilities.  The sole exception is Alev Kazimoglu, who retains her position as Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care.

The meeting on 23rd May also appointed members to various committees and panels.  The report listing these appointments is available on the council website (starting on page 7).

Francis Sealey has posted information about the new cabinet members on Enfield Voices, prompting some comments from readers..

Alleged irregularities

The influx of new faces into the Labour Group on the council has caused some internal dissent among local members of the Labour Party, as is evident from following various discussions on Enfield Voices. Some members are alleging that there were irregularities in the processes used to select candidates for the council elections. and this has prompted counter accusations of racism andlor sexism.

According to information posted on Enfield Voices, a meeting of Enfield Southgate Constituency Labour Party (CLP) held on 24th May voted to request the party's national bodies to carry out an immediate investigation into these alleged irregularities (for more details and a discussion see www.facebook.com/groups/763895757039726/permalink/1631991840230109). There have been further discussions at www.facebook.com/groups/763895757039726/permalink/1636708753091751/.