The failure of the NDCs

Dec 08, 2009 Editorial

At the scene of almost every major fire there are people who would criticize the operations of the Guyana Fire Service. Sunday evening at Success was no different when two houses went up in flames.
It has been the same thing on every occasion because the man in the street fails to recognize that the fire tenders only hold a certain volume of water which is dissipated in short order a the scene of a major fire. Each tender holds no more than 1,000 gallons and at the rate of pumping this could be used up in three minutes or less, giving the impression that the tenders are empty.
More often than not, the fire fighters must seek sources of water near the scene of the fire. In the city there are many waterways but these are often of no use because of the junk people throw into them and more often than not, they dry up because there is no flow.
In Success it was no different. Drains and canals that always had water are now bone dry, having been allowed to lapse into disuse through the grass that grew in them, supported by the garbage that the very residents dumped into them.
Sunday night this posed a serious problem for the firefighters. They had to truck their hoses a long distance away to a source of water. In fact, the residents had to show them the source.
This is where one can understand the frustration of the decision makers when they said that the various Neighbourhood Democratic Councils had become moribund. The last local government elections were held in 1994. People with fresh ideas rushed to take up office in these councils.
The People’s National Congress had suggested that the people be allowed to determine the composition of the NDCs. The argument was that the people knew the communities and they would have been the people to chart the course of development for the councils.
The PNCR said that the municipalities could be political affairs.
However, the government insisted that the elections be political affairs and so it contested in even the neighbourhoods. The result is that the political party placed its people to control these councils. Many of these people apparently had little or no interest in development, choosing instead to strut and flaunt their power.
Today, these people have either left the councils, or have died or have lost interest. In the first instance they were never fully into the workings of the council. The result is the visible sign of collapse in many of the councils. There is haphazard construction, some of them without permission, deteriorated roadways and of course, the blocked waterways.
On Sunday and early Monday the people of Success, east Coast Demerara, were accusing an official of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council of ignoring the concerns of the residents. They took reporters to a rum shop where one official was having a drink at mid-morning, ignoring the work of the council.
In other councils there are reports of corrupt practices with the heads of these councils using state equipment for their private gain.
It might have been that these people are not fully paid staff although the Ministry of Local Government states that the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen are paid servants. The councilors are paid a stipend whenever they attend meetings.
The present state of affairs dictates that local government elections be held sooner rather than later. It is not written in stone that the political parties contest the elections in the various neighbourhoods. Therefore there should be a move to canvas people in the communities to