PPP needs to stop undermining local government communities they haven’t won

Dec 20, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The Speaker had advised this nation the message sent by the President consistent with Article 170(3) giving his reasons for withholding assent to the Local Government (Amendment) Bill will be released to the nation after he shared it with Members of the National Assembly. In deference for this apparent protocol, the National Assembly has since met, and by now the President’s message should have been released to the public. The Speaker is called on to release this message. This is the people’s business and ought to be made known to the people. This Bill seeks to deepen citizens’ involvement in their quest for self-determination which is consistent with realising the autonomy of local government and oversight responsibility vested in the constitutionally mandated Local Government Commission (Articles 75 and 78A) and we must know the president’s reasons for non-assent.
This obsession with national leaders to dictate what happens in the villages and towns is today seeing another crisis in Georgetown and its environs. The picture of a president, standing in long boots, hands akimbo, in a flooded community in attempt to convey the impression of effective management must not fool us. For the president and team to lay blame for the city’s unhealthy and unsightly state at the doors of the City Council and the PNC is an act of inept political leadership. The City Council comprises councillors from the PPP, PNC and GGG. This nation must call on the president to tell us what recommendation(s) the PPP councillors presented to any statutory meeting to improve the residents’ quality of life and bring relief to the ever present flood crisis.  The City Council must also put this information in the public domain. Failure to provide answers/evidence will confirm that citizens are being held hostage to political immaturity and machinations.
Agencies now reeling from the effects and seeking refuge from or abdication of some responsibility are also reminded of the period when the city’s by-laws were enforced for the establishment of businesses in some communities and the use of public reserves. Some have benefitted from the present lawlessness and association with the powers that be promoting this contempt. Now the chickens have come home to roost and all are being consumed, even the innocent.  There was a period in this country, in spite of scarce resources, this level of flooding was unbeknown. Places like Le Repentir Cemetery, National Park, Botanical Gardens, Camp Ayangana, and Eve Leary were never unkempt.
What is happening in this society is that we continue to see a government ill-equipped to adequately perform, lurching from crisis to crisis and masking such through wild assertions, and the offer of temporary relief.  The calls for Hamilton Green to go and the appointment of an Interim Management Committee must be resisted by every law-abiding citizen in our quest to protect and respect the right to self-determination. One does not have to like a person to respect his/her rights. Similarly, one does not have to dislike a person to draw attention to his/her transgressions.
This is a nation of laws and we must uphold them. Through balloting Hamilton Green-led GGG secured the plurality of votes and the councillors elected him Mayor. He must be removed by the same legitimate process that placed him there.  This society must reach the level when matters of national import see our intolerance for the actions of those who violate laws and transgress rights. The PPP needs to stop undermining the work of local government communities they have not won. The President in the discharge of his duties must set the example to operate within the parameters of the country’s constitution and laws.  For the president and team to take the position it can deny the council resources and obligations (rates, taxes, grants, maintenance of main roads and waterways,  etc.)  because of its political composition (consistent with Articles 10 and 147) is a breach of the Constitution they swore to uphold.
Lest we forget, executive authority/supremacy does not mean you operate outside and above the Constitution. The role of an Executive is to carry-out/manage the decisions/desire of the collective and in politics this is driven through the legislature and judicature. The Executive cannot operate contrary to these institutions. In fact, the Executive is guided in its duties by these branches of government. Any policy/decision created and implement by this branch has to be consistent with our laws, which the legislature makes as informed by the Constitution and in instance of conflict, adjudicated by the judicature.
Lincoln Lewis

 

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