AN OVER-BLOATED SYSTEM IS BEING CREATED

Apr 27, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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What has happened to the promise to restart political discussions on local government reforms? These reforms are absolutely necessary if the main opposition parties are to participate in local government elections which were initially anticipated to have been held this month.
That timetable was pushed backwards and may now be pushed further backwards because of the failure to commence political discussions on local government reform.
The main opposition parties have linked their participation in the local government polls to the instituting of the reforms which they see as absolutely necessary if any credibility is to be attached to local government elections.
They have insisted that they see local authorities as being hamstrung by the existing legislation which does not devolve sufficient authority to the local level and which does not secure any sound financial basis for these authorities to operate effectively.
Some of the main pillars of contention in the negotiation process, whenever it gets going, will be the system of fiscal transfer.
Under this system, local authorities will receive subventions from the government based on a formula which takes into account the size of the area in the question, the population, level of development and the needs of the communities.
This will help allay fears about favouritism and discrimination in the allocation of government subvention since the authorities will receive fiscal transfers based on a predetermined formula.
What the reforms are, may not be able to address the need for a corps of skilled and capable individuals within every local authority that would be able to manage effectively the affairs of their respective jurisdictions.
Local government is not a particularly attractive career choice. While the new electoral system would allow for individuals to contest for office in their respective communities, and would allow for individuals to contest as independents, the fact is that Guyana is so divided and polarised along political and ethnic lines that the very concept of independence is going to be questioned in the polls.
And it is most probable that in the end what we will have is the usual race between the political parties for control.
The new talent that the system is predicted to bring froth is not likely to materialise and this is one of the main problem areas since the main political parties are hard-pressed to find sufficient personnel to dedicate to the effective management of local authorities.
For this reason, this column had proposed some time ago that the system of local government be simplified and made leaner. If there is going to be a revitalisation of village councils, NDCs and other low tier local authorities, then the regional system should be contracted.
At present, the regional system is not effective since major infrastructural projects such as the building of highways, bridges and sea defenses have to be done through central government with the support of international financial institutions.
The regional system therefore is not effective because of this and other limitations to the devolution of power from the centre.
The regional democratic authorities are going to be made further redundant if greater powers and resources are going to be devolved to the neighbourhood democratic councils and re-created village councils.
Already there exists a strained relationship between these regional bodies and the government and best exemplified by the impotence of the regional councils to enforce in many instances accountability over regional executive officers.
With the NDCs and the village councils seeking greater autonomy and independence, this is bound to create rifts between these bodies and their parent regional councils.
Then there is the question of the parallel and quasi-legal community development councils which sprung up just after the PPP gained power in 1992.
These groups actually perform parallel functions to the village councils and engage in development work.
It is expected that under a reformed system of local government, there will be greater demands for these community development councils to become subsumed under the various local government bodies.
By far, however, the greatest challenge facing local authorities is finding sufficient suitably qualified and competent persons willing to function at the local authority.
The political parties are already stretched thin having to find members of parliament, ministers and persons to work in the government apparatus, councilors for the many municipalities and neighbourhood councils.
Since local government work is not at attractive proposition, it means that there is bound to be difficulties in sourcing human resources to fill the new positions that will be created under a reformed system.
Something has to give and the only plausible solution would seem to be the dissolution of the system of regional administration which in any event was created for a socialist type system. But will the political parties bury their pride and admit that they simply cannot staff all these various tiers of local government?
Politics in Guyana is much about who rules as it is about pride and this pride is what will prevent the scrapping of the system of regional administration. Instead, what will be created is an over- bloated local government system, one that will be a great drain on the finances and skills of Guyanese.

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