THE long delayed Local Government elections are likely by the end of next year if unresolved issues, which have contributed to repeated postponements, are ironed out expeditiously.
During the final sitting of the National Assembly yesterday, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Kellawan Lall, said significant progress has been made in resolving the two major hurdles for the elections to be held.
He made the disclosure while moving the second reading of the Local Government (Amendment) which was passed, posting Local Government elections for a period of 12 months.
All the parliamentary political parties subscribed to the view that the elections are vitally needed to further enhance the democratic process and improve the living conditions at the community level.
Lall informed the House that the task force being co-chaired by Mr. Clinton Collymore of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Mr. Vincent Alexander of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), has agreed that the elections should be held under a hybrid system of Proportional Representation and First Past the Post (constituencies).
The task force was established to give effect to the constitutional changes made in respect to the Local Government system that came out of the Constitutional Reform Process which began in 2001.
Recalling the several postponements since 1997, after the last Local Government elections in 1994, the minister noted that Local Government elections haven “practically abandoned” since 1994 and the issue of postponement has become an “annual painful ritual.”
Nevertheless, he indicated, that in what he described as a “new and refreshing atmosphere”, both in the Parliament and the country as a whole, there is optimism that the elections can be held next year.
END BLAME GAME
He called for an end to the “blame game” and urged a positive stance whereby parliamentarians from both sides of the House, “in one voice”, should move to have the elections held.
Lall said that while agreement has been reached on the hybrid system, the issue of the ratio of Proportional Representation and First Past the Post has not yet been settled. It is likely to be resolved soon as the Task Force is operating with a renewed vigour, he said.
On this score, the PNCR is to respond to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) proposal of a 50 : 50 ratio, he said.
The other major hurdle to be overcome, according to Lall, is the issue of fiscal transfers to Local Democratic Organs below the Regional Democratic Councils whereby greater financial autonomy of these bodies is being sought and larger subventions by central government.
Several pieces of legislation are also to be drafted and brought before the House to make amendments to the Local Government Act, Chapter 28:02 of the Constitution of Guyana to give effect to the proposed changes articulated under the Constitutional Reform Process, he said.
The minister noted that despite the postponement of elections there have been encouraging signs at the level of the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities with respect to infrastructure, disposal of garbage and training councillors.
This, he said, has been boosted by active cooperation with various interest groups and support from the Social Amelioration Impact Programme (SIMAP), the Urban Development Programme (UDP) and the Community Enhancement Programme (CEP).
He also noted that the groundwork is being laid for the development of additional municipalities at Bartica, Charity, Lethem and Parika, among others, while through financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a solid waste disposal system is being developed.
However, he conceded that the government is aware of the poor functioning of some NDCs, shoddy work on projects, corruption and poor management and monitoring of projects.
He said the government is moving to address these problems and his ministry has measures in place to ensure communities in which projects are being executed have access to bills of quantities to help monitor them.
However, both Opposition Leader Mr. Robert Corbin, and Mr. Basil Williams of the People’s National Congress-One Guyana alliance (PNCR-1G), chided the government for not having elections of Chairmen/Vice-Chairmen of NDCs and Mayors and Deputy Mayors of municipalities annually.
NO CONSTITUTIONAL OBSTACLE
They felt this could have taken place despite the postponement of the election, as there is no constitutional obstacle to this.
Lall countered that this issue will be overcome with the holding of the elections.
The opposition parliamentarians also called for a new voters list through house to house verification which, according to them, has been recommended by the Organisation of American States (OAS) and Commonwealth missions which observed the August 28 general and regional elections, as well as a restructuring of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to avoid politicisation of the body.
However, PPP General Secretary, Mr. Donald Ramotar, contended that while his party has no objections to a new voters list, it is their view that if a new list is compiled through house to house verification, it would not be completed in time to hold the election within the envisaged 12-month period.
In this regard, Ramotar said this has also been indicated by the Chairman of GECOM.
He added that the government accepts that the election is “badly needed” and is supportive of all moves to accelerate the process.
He said the PPP has always held local government elections “close to its heart”, and recollected that as far back as 1952, former Presidents Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Mrs. Janet Jagan, and Mr. L.F.S Burnham, who was then a member of the PPP, all contested the Georgetown Municipal election. However, only Mrs. Jagan won a seat and became the first female to do so, he noted.
But Corbin argued that based on professional advice, getting a new list will take not more than six months, and bearing in mind the use of continuous registration, the process of compiling a new list will be simplified. In addition, he said, there will be no need to have verification of persons recently registered.
Corbin also identified educating voters about the new system of election as a worrisome area and exhorted that this matter should be expeditiously resolved because the longer it takes to be settled, the greater is the challenge of educating voters, as the system will be unfamiliar to them.
On the issue of restructuring GECOM, Corbin argued that it is useful to review the structure of the body to determine whether it is satisfying local objectives.
He also expressed some concern that the Constitution, unlike the case of other constitutional commissions, does not specify the life of GECOM, and urged that this matter should be given attention.
The Opposition Leader contended too that electoral postponement is not an impediment to fiscal transfers to Local Democratic Organs and the government should evaluate the work needed to be done by them and avail the necessary funds.
Corbin also said the postponement of the election also provides another opportunity to iron out thorny issues.
Lall agreed with this approach and assured that this is being addressed by the government but his ministry is dependent on the amount of money allocated by the Ministry of Finance in accordance with Cabinet’s decision.
Corbin made a pitch too for councillors of Local Democratic Organs to be financially remunerated because of their limited financial resources.
Mr. David Patterson of the Alliance For Change (AFC), described the postponement of the election as an “annual merry go round”, saying his party welcomes the election which should be held as early as possible as any delay is undemocratic.
He charged that only two out a possible 13 local government elections, under both the PNC and PPP governments, were held, arguing that the trend set by the former has been “championed by the latter.”
He also charged that the state of disarray of the local government system suits the government as it provides them with an opportunity to exert direct political and partisan control of them through the installation of interim committees.
Patterson said compiling of new voters list might be impractical and in such a case the parties should work out a negotiated resolution to the matter so that a trustworthy list could be produced.
He also called for larger subventions to Local Democratic Organs and awards made based on computation of the population whereby those communities with larger populations would receive larger allocations, as well as greater financial autonomy for the local bodies.