New mayor and cabinet confirmed

Labour’s picks for the new leadership team at Enfield Civic Centre have been revealed, reports James Cracknell

*Doris Jiagge is sworn in as the new mayor at Enfield Civic Centre (credit Enfield Council)*

The Labour administration at Enfield Council has revealed its new cabinet, while a new mayor of the borough has also been formally sworn in.

At last night’s annual council meeting, where the council’s leadership team was officially confirmed for the year ahead, a cabinet featuring seven new faces was revealed.

Doris Jiagge, who was newly elected on 5^th May but had previously served as deputy mayor in 2017 during a previous stint on the council, was also confirmed as the new mayor of Enfield, becoming the first person of Ghanaian origin to take on the civic role.

Cllr Jiagge replaces Sabri Ozaydin as mayor, who had unusually served for two consecutive years because of the pandemic.

In her acceptance speech, the Upper Edmonton councillor said: “I am proud and honoured to be here as the elected mayor of this great borough.

“I commit to serving the people of the borough to the best of my ability, with enthusiasm and passion.”

Cllr Jiagge is originally from Ghana and has lived in the UK – mostly in Enfield borough – for the past 27 years. She said women of African descent often view politics as being “male dominated” because of their cultural background, but that she wanted to change this perception.

The new Enfield mayor said: “Those of us who have decided to participate [in politics] must see ourselves as role models who can attract more women from African backgrounds.”

This story is published by Enfield Dispatch, Enfield's free monthly newspaper and free news website. We are a not-for-profit publication, published by a small social enterprise. We have no rich backers and rely on the support of our readers. Donate or become a supporter.

Cllr Jiagge’s chosen charities for the year, although not yet confirmed, will be focused on tackling the problems of domestic violence and mental health.

The new deputy mayor, meanwhile, is Suna Hurman, a newly-elected councillor for Enfield Lock ward.

Following last week’s Labour group AGM that decided which councillors would serve in the cabinet and leadership positions, Nesil Caliskan was formally re-elected as leader and Ergin Erbil as the new deputy leader of the council.

For the new cabinet, continuing in their previous roles are Alev Cazimoglu, cabinet member for health and social care, and Rick Jewell, cabinet member for environment. Continuing as cabinet members but with newly-assigned roles are Gina Needs, cabinet member for community safety and cohesion, and George Savva, cabinet member for social housing. Joining them are fresh faces Chinelo Anyanwu, cabinet member for public spaces, culture and local economy; Susan Erbil, cabinet member for licensing, planning and regulatory services; plus Tim Leaver, cabinet member for finance and procurement.

The three associate cabinet members are Ahmet Hasan (representing Enfield north), Chris James (Enfield west), Mustafa Cetinkaya (Enfield south-east) and Ayten Guzel (non-geographical).

Cllr Caliskan said: “Our new cabinet members will take up important roles to serve the people of Enfield and to deliver good public services.

“I look forward to working with my cabinet colleagues to deliver our exciting and ambitious manifesto projects for Enfield.”

We know times are hard

If you are struggling to make ends meet, we are keeping Enfield Dispatch free because of you. We know that many people cannot afford to pay for local news, so this website and our print paper will always be free. If you can afford to, and value what we do, a small monthly, yearly or one-off contribution can support us to keep providing quality journalism for Enfield to our community for free.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.