Kwakwani’s action is in defiance of Govt imposition

Sep 11, 2012 News

Interim Management Committee Chairman of the Linden municipality, Orrin Gordon, in reflecting on what recently transpired at Kwakwani where the people elected a fifteen-member committee to manage their affairs, and defying a Government threat not to recognize it, said that the situation was something that had been ‘brewing’ for some time.
Gordon said that what transpired was not a question of legitimacy, but an act of democracy.
He added that prior to the installation of the interim management committee there had been no consultation with the people, so essentially what the move amounted to was an imposition of an IMC by Government that the people were not prepared to accept. “It was something that was concocted.”
The IMC Chairman said that under the circumstances which the IMC was installed the people would have had no confidence in that body.
“I want to point to the local Government issues that are right now affecting our country; I can’t say only Linden or Region Ten but the entire country. The question is how we see this as practitioners in the local Government System.
“I want to say that there is a serious issue with local Governance in Guyana. And there is a seeming intransigence on the part of the Government, not to allow Local democratic organs to breathe and operate freely. There is also a morbid reluctance on the part of the Government to not allow the organs to do what they are expected to do—that is manage and govern on behalf of the people in the community.
“The problem is that the Government has had a history of wanting to control everything at the local level.’ Gordon reflected back to 2008, when there was the Urban Development programme.”
According to him there was a decision that the supervision which the RDC had obtained under the previous government in 1983, and which was promulgated by the then Minister of National Mobilization, Mr Robert Corbin placed the ten RDCs in Guyana to be responsible for supervising municipalities, wherever those were found, and also NDC’s wherever those were found.”
Interim Management Committee Chairman,of the Linden municipality, Orrin Gordon in reflecting on what recently transpired at Kwakwani where the people elected a fifteen member committee to manage their affairs, defying a Government threat not to recognize it, said that what happened, was something that had been ‘brewing’ for some time .
Gordon posited that what transpired was not a question of legitimacy, but an act of democracy.
He added that prior to the installation of the interim Management committee there had been no consultation with the people, so essentially what the move amounted to was an imposition of an IMC by Government that the people were not prepared to accept. “It was something that was concocted.”
The IMC Chairman said that under the circumstances which the IMC was installed the people would have had no confidence in that body.
“I want to point to the local Government issues that are right now affecting our country; I can’t say only Linden or Region Ten but the entire country. The question is how we see this as practitioners in the local Government System.
‘So there was devolution of power to the local organ for the whole question of budget, and the question of discipline and appointment of officers. Those were devolved to the RDC’s as the highest tier within the Regions, and the NDC’s and municipalities responded likewise to these organs.
Now here it is was that in 2008 the Government removed that important aspect of Local Governance, from the RDC’s and returned it to Central (Ministry).
He pointed out that there was no ‘hue and cry’ when that happened in 2008, even though a few persons including himself ‘made some noise’, and said that it was a backward step.
“But they said no, ‘that it was recentralization for decentralization’.
So what they were basically saying is that they were going to recentralize the authority, so that they can then ‘decentralize’.
He however noted that from then to now, there has been no decentralization, and what has happened, is more centralization, more control.
Gordon said that as a people, “we allow these travesties to pass, and as they pass, the Government is emboldened to do more.”
The IMC Chairman posited that in his view the administration is now ‘panicking’ that what has happened in Linden, has now taken root all over Guyana. People are now standing up for what they want, in terms of governance and their development.

Latest News

Kwakwani’s action is in defiance of Govt imposition

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

National Table Tennis duo Shemar Britton, Chelsea Edghill to...

Athaleyha Hinckson Joins LSU

Paul Nixon Appointed Head Coach of Antigua and...

Aubrey Hutson open to fourth term as AAG

Guyana U17s close out unbeaten group stage...

Mashramani Basketball tournament ongoing in...

Features/Columnists

Mashramani must break from the shackles of imitation

CARICOM Nations Should Respond Together To new U.S. Policies

Serenades aka noise pollution

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Kwakwani’s action is in defiance of Govt imposition

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]