Local Government Commission victim of unassented Local Government Bill – AG

May 15, 2014 News

---

By Zena Henry
Attorney General Anil Nandlall has blamed the non-enactment of the Local Government     Commission on the stalled Local Government Amendment Bill which was not assented to by President Donald Ramotar last year.

A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Shadow Local Government Minister Ronald Bulkan said he is not buying the AG’s excuse. He said that the Local Government Minister’s defiance in commencing the Local Government Commission is “questioning the judgment of the President.”
Bulkan explained that once the President has assented to a Bill then it must be passed and no other consideration should delay it.
Bulkan said that the Local Government Minister is an “upstart” in his denial to commence the Commission and charged that the AG’s explanation expresses “no confidence” in the President’s decision to assent to the Bills.
The Local Government Commission Bill was among three other Bills passed in the National Assembly, and required the President’s signature; it included the Fiscal Transfers Bill 2012, Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government (Amendment) Bill– which was rejected.
The Local Government Commission which was made legal in 1969 is the body responsible for hiring, disciplining and firing staffers within the local government organs. As a result of its 45-year absence, confusion such as that at City Hall is now occurring where two acting Town Clerks; one appointed by the government and one by the Mayor and Councilors are squaring off.
Both sides believe that their nominee is the best candidate, until the being of the Commission. The recurring question therefore, is why has the Commission not been convened. Instead, the Georgetown Municipality and the Local Government Ministry are locked in court.
The Attorney General is saying, however, that the Commission cannot be enacted because the provisions in the non-assented Bill affect the legality of the others. The AG said that the fourth Bill, the Local Government Amendment Bill, was not assented to by the President because its contents seek to withdraw Ministerial powers and bestow it on the Commission.
He explained that while the government is satisfied with the contents of the three Bills that were assented to, they are not satisfied with the contents of the fourth Bill which gives “executive power to a non-executive body.”
The AG said that the government is being criticized for its non-assent to the fourth Bill. The majority in the Parliamentary Select Committee made several deletions of clauses within the Bill, but in most of the instances where these deletions were made; no amendments were inserted to fill the deficiencies.
In consequence, if the Bill is properly examined, several structural and institutional deficiencies in the architecture of the Local Government structure which the Bill purports to create will be identified.
“Many of the functions which the Regional Executive Officers (REOs) are to perform, including oversight, approval of financial transfers to NDC’s from Central Government and a whole host of other financial and executive responsibilities are the subject of a clause in the Bill.”
This clause has been deleted, but nothing is substituted, he went on. “So, currently, there is no one in this Bill to perform these important functional responsibilities.”

Another set of amendments relate to simply transferring executive powers from the Minister to the Local Government Commission by simply cutting out the word “Minister” for the word “Commission” without appreciating the impact that it will have on the Constitution.
“The effect, is that you have a transferral of executive power from the executive Minister to a non-executive Local Government Commission.”
“The Commission by its very nature is not an executive agency but it is a Constitutional autonomous body like the other Constitutional Commissions and cannot be charged with executive responsibilities.” The AG said that the powers of the Commission are set out in Article 78A of the Constitution, and it provides for “…all matters related to the regulation and staffing of local government organs and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs.”
The AG says that the “Commission has no other function, therefore the whole regimes of functions which have been taken from the Minister and given to the Local Government Commission are simply ultra vires Article 78A of the Constitution.”
The Local Government Commission Bill was passed last October. Its enactment awaits the Local Government Minister’s order of commencement. The commencement seems distant as the AG suggested that only a revisit of the fourth Bill could ensure that all four Bills complement each other.

---

---