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Local Govt. Elections…A number of things are not still in place – Rohee
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP), through its General Secretary Clement Rohee, has said categorically that it is not opposed to the holding of Local Government or General and Regional Elections. In fact, Rohee said that his party “stands ready to embrace the electorate whenever Local Government or National and Regional elections are called.”
PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee
However, Rohee is of the view at present that if Local Government Elections were to be called “it would get off on a wrong footing because a number of things are not still in place, a number of issues have not been settled either at the Commission Level or at the party level.”
Rohee outlined that historically holding of elections “whether General or Local Government, has not been very pleasant” and “the worst thing that can happen in this new dispensation with respect to Local Government Elections is for it to get off on a wrong footing.”
The General Secretary said that he had a meeting with new Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Keith Lowenfield concerning the issues of Local Government Elections.
“There is the whole question of the amendment of laws, the Local Government Act has to be done, they have to be placed in the Parliament, and there are a number of laws that have to be made consistent with the Representation of the People Act,” said Rohee.
Rohee said he can’t comment on what he discussed with the Chief Election Officer but “the furthest I can go is to say there are still a number of issues, legislative and regulatory, that have to be put in place in order for local government to be successfully held.”
He is of the view that Guyanese people should “be vigilant and not allow themselves to be duped by the hypocritical calls made by Granger and his APNU [A Partnership For National Unity], for Local Government elections, when it has consistently violated the democratic rights of the Guyanese people both in and out of power.”
Rohee’s comments come on the heels of the PPP-led government not holding Local Government Elections for some 20 years since its ascension into office. The prevailing consensus among opposing politicians and intellectuals is that this administration does not want to hold such elections because that would lead to power being decentralized across Guyana as opposed to the current centralized configuration that now exists.
However Rohee’s contention is that “we are not opposed to holding Local Government Elections we have never said that, what we have said both at the party level and the government level is reasons why we would prefer a number of measures to be put in place before the elections are held, we have never said unequivocally that we don’t want local government elections.”
He said so far nothing has happened in the Parliament “I hear people talking about putting in place a Commission, but the Commission is not the only issue in relation to Local Government Elections, it’s a host of other issues.”
“We have to always remember that, because political parties that contest elections, the parties are always looking out for the interest of their constituents and their voters and therein lies the problem.”
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