Bulkhan warns against moves to dissolve City Council

Jun 30, 2014 News

– accuses Whittaker of behaving like ‘Lone Ranger’

Shadow Local Government Minister Ronald Bulkhan has objected to the government’s interference in the affairs of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC). The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) member charged yesterday that current Local Government Minister Norman Whitaker has hijacked the City Council and has stripped it of its authority and autonomy.
He stated therefore, that any move by the government via the Minister to remove the executive or to impose an Interim Management Committee (IMC) on the Council at this stage would be illegal. Bulkhan told Kaieteur News yesterday that Minister Whitaker is behaving like a “lone ranger” calling the shots of the autonomous body.
He explained that while the government has failed to uphold the law by calling Local Government elections, they have sought to impose themselves on the Municipal body.
Bulkhan said that the Opposition has on several occasions, at several forums called for the holding of Local polls. He stated however that the President has refused to assent to one of the Amendment Bills which allows for the holding of Local Polls by August 1.
Bulkhan warned that any move by the government to remove the executive body or to implement an IMC would be illegal at this stage since there is a process to be followed.
Minister Norman Whitaker had told Kaieteur News last week that in dealing with the dilemma facing the Council, the government has a few options which also involve the dissolving of the Council.
Minister Whittaker had for the first time visited the Council and sat in at one of their statutory meetings. He however walked out after claiming that the members were engaging in semantics.
The Minister said that he had attended the meeting in the hope that he would have been engaged and that any queries on any issue would have been asked of him. Instead, he said, they were being counterproductive.
Whittaker stated that among the options his Ministry has in dealing with the Council, the more prominent ones are the dissolution of the body, the holding of annual internal elections of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, or the implementation of an Interim Management Committee (IMC).
Minister Whittaker had pointed out that under the Municipal and District Council’s Act Chapter 28:01, Section 306, the Minister can declare the Council to be in default and dissolve or suspend it for some time, if it is found among other things that the body failed to observe financial instructions and maintain reasonable standards of efficiency and progress in the discharge of its functions.
The Minister said he could also call a day for the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor as the case may require and prescribe their terms of office. He said that the same is stated in the Local Authorities Elections Amendment Act. The Minister did indicate, however, that at this time he is engaged in the major cleanup programme organized for Guyana.
The Shadow Local Government Minister charged however that any of these moves suggested by the Minister would see the Opposition party giving total support to the Council which would be expected to take legal action. Bulkhan said that it would be “reprehensible, unjustified and provocative,” for the Minister to take any of the steps he mentioned, especially in the absence of local elections.
The Council’s Town Clerk (ag) Carol Sooba was given the position by the government and both the Council and the Opposition parties have accused the Administration of using her to carry out their will.
The Council has claimed that the Council Secretary takes orders from the Minister and ignores the decisions of the executive members. They have charged for the longest time that the government has willfully stifled them financially and continues to have a say in the affairs of managing the city.
Many have also called for the holding of local polls, but the government has claimed several reasons why local elections cannot be called. The government is yet to hint or give a date for the holding of local elections.

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