Local Democracy in Guyana is sheer talks

Sep 05, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The Local Democracy in Guyana is sheer talks, and not based in reality. It is evident that the PPP has failed to implement systems of independent governance, within the local government authority area, which would have given the people in their communities the financial power and knowledge to manage their own affairs.
The 1980 Constitution of Guyana has decentralized the power of the state, when it established the ten Regional Democratic Councils as the highest constitutionally elected local government authority for the respective regions. The constitution has divided our country into 10 elected administrative regions, which hold the power to govern, but these regions have been powerless because parliament has never given the RDC the power to raise their own revenues and to dispose of them for the benefit and welfare of their areas. This was deliberately done by the PPP so they can hold on to power in the regions.
The 1980 Constitution removed the power of the local government minister over local government organs making the Minister more a provider not a director. The constitution orders parliament to provide for local democratic organs to be autonomous and take decisions which are binding upon their agencies and institutions on the communities and citizens of their areas.
The Minister of Local Government, who is the appointed by the President, holds the power and authority for his Ministry by the constitution, but not for elected local government authority.
The Minister keeps making huge mistakes because of the greed for political power. Act 12 of 1980 is crafted in such a way to incorporate other local government laws, but some of these old laws can be declared unconstitutional by the court. One such law is the power of the Minister in 28:02 which should not be enforced. This law gives the Minister the power to bypass the RDCs and give directives to any lower tier local government authority, which is a breach of the regional local democracy system of governance.
All delegation of power or authority by parliament should be delegated to the regional democratic councils, section 10 of Act 12 of 1980. Now the dictatorship laws are in the hands of the PPP who had complained and fought against these same laws and the 1980 constitution, which they call a fraud against the people.
The people of this country elected the government and gave them the power and money to manage and develop our country, but we end up with a designer of systems and policies which take away the power and money of the people. They used these powers and moneys to oppress the people who employed them to manage and protect their constitutional rights.
They keep crafting dishonest political systems by the creation of new laws. In 2001 they took away the power of the RDCs to elect 10 members of parliament, and put it in the hands of political parties and called them representatives of geographical constituencies.
These members basically take their directives from the political party and not the regional government. They are not members of the regional governments and there is no law linking them with the Regional Democratic Councils of the regions, so who they are really representing?
The appointment of Regional Executive Officers who are candidates or members of the ruling party is another breach of local democracy. The PPP never established a local government commission. The reason for doing this is to hold on to the power to appoint the REO and staff so they can give the office to the members who were on the candidate list in order to have control over the regional government.
They also ensured that they did not update section 117 of Chapter 28:01 of the Municipal and District Councils Act. The council has no power to appoint, confirm or to carry out disciplinary action against any officer without the approval of the Minister, so some of the officers do as they please and pretend to central government that they are working in the interest of the people. In the PPP’s fight to control the regional government, they had also introduced the Financial Management and Accountability Act of 2003 into the regional government system, in which the finance secretary uses the power to bypass the council and give the REO the financial power of the region.
The Tender Board and Procurement Act of 2003 also gives the REO chairmanship of the Tender Board for the region so he holds four offices – Clerk of the RDC, Regional Executive Officer, Treasurer and Chairman of the Tender Board. This is in breach of section 74 of Chapter 28:01.
There is no part of the Local Democratic Organs Act or other laws that govern local government authorities that gives one officer all that power. No international accounting standard system that I know of permits such power in one man’s hands.
Many of our old and new laws are now inconsistent with our Constitution that establishes local government’s authority. Because of such failure to update these laws and systems for appointment, the whole local government system is failing, but no one in legal authority is looking at these breaches that force dictatorship policies on the people.
Another flaw in the system of local democracy is that some councillors who are elected have limited or no knowledge of the laws and systems that govern local government authority and some who may have the knowledge turn a blind eye to the wrongs of central government when they violate the constitutional rights of the people.
How could a country have democracy when the councillors are not paid a just remuneration to perform their duties? There is no incentive for councillors to work other than their own will to do so.
Is it fair to pay members of parliament who make laws and policies and at the same time be unjust to the RDC and NDC councilors who have to implement those laws and policies?
As a former RDC councillor, I cannot understand why the RDC has no say in the preparations of local government elections when the RDC is the representative of lower tier local government authority of the respective regions.
If each region had the power of the Minister they could have held the local government elections every three years.
Michael Carrington
AFC Executive Member

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