Local Democracy and Human Development

Nov 22, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan recently announced that Guyanese will, after a delay of eighteen years, have the opportunity to elect Councillors to manage towns and neighbourhoods when local government elections are held on March 18, 2016. In announcing the date, he said, “Elections are important because they are a democratic constitutional right.” He said too, that the long overdue elections are all about putting decision-making power into the hands of the people.
Minister Bulkan’s announcement is a milestone along the long road to local democracy which began when then Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier David Granger wrote to former President Donald Ramotar on September 9 2014, urging the former President to hold local government elections. Brigadier Granger wrote, “Local government elections, last held in 1994, are a constitutional obligation and a democratic entitlement of the Guyanese people. It is not an option of the executive branch of government.”
President Ramotar ignored the letter. The Opposition leader then addressed the nation on September 18, 2014, and announced that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) would conduct weekly picketing exercises outside of the Office of the President. All of these efforts were ignored by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regime. And the rest is history.
The current administration on the other hand, is committed to working towards the ideal of grassroots democracy. Government from the bottom, up, rather than the top, down. This commitment is manifested in our determination to allow Guyanese to exercise their constitutional right to choose their leaders at all levels of government.
With the holding of local government elections, new leaders will not only replace old leaders, instead, this will mark a break with the ways of the past. The new democratically-elected officials will be empowered to perform their decision-making roles according to law. They will not be dominated by central government. March 18, 2016 will mark the day on which decentralisation of decision-making power will be meaningfully implemented by your government.
Decentralisation is simply the opposite of centralisation of power. It is the process by which decision-making power is transferred from central government to local organs – municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils. Decentralisation of power includes deconcentration, delegation, devolution, and divestment. Your government is committed to this course of action. Political power will be given to the people of Guyana, instead of being concentrated in the hands of officials in central government offices.
Deconcentration is the shifting of the workload from central government to local administrative units. In other words, responsibility for certain matters is shifted to local government organs. This allows for greater efficiency in the delivery of services, because those responsible for delivering such services are located closer to the people they serve.
Delegation is a transfer of administrative tasks within the system of government. It gives local democratic organs the authority to make administrative decisions which were previously made by central government.
Devolution means political decentralisation of power from high levels of government to lower levels of government. Devolution gives local democratic organs the power to make policy decisions within the policy framework and strategic direction of the government.
Divestment refers to the transfer of powers away from the State. In other words, privatisation of some powers.
It is immediately apparent that decentralisation is a wide-ranging process which will benefit the people. Each government which embarks on this course must assess the unique needs of its citizens to determine how each sub-heading of decentralisation should be implemented. The administration is committed to maximising the effectiveness of the process by considering the needs of each administrative area and implementing appropriate decentralisation measures.
Clearly, a fully functional local government is more than desirable; it is, in fact, an absolute necessity for development of neighbourhoods, communities, regions and the country as a whole. The two main functions of local government, namely, the provision of services and the promotion of democracy through citizen participation, simply cannot be achieved in the absence of adequately empowered local democratic organs.
Let us therefore, exercise our right to choose our local leaders by voting for those who have our interests at heart. The right to choose our local leaders has been denied for eighteen years. It is time to make a break with the past. This administration makes a solemn promise that as long as we have the honour of serving the people of Guyana, such denial of rights will never be permitted.

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