Local govt. in Guyana doesn’t empower

Dec 21, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
The opposition PPP objected to (walked out of the debate on) the passage of a bill (media report Dec 18) pertaining to local government reform. It is not clear what the reform is about (was not about empowerment of communities) and why the PPP objected to it. Instead of walking out from the debate and the vote, the PPP should have countered with an amendment to the APNU-AFC bill proposing its own reforms to make local government work better.
A PPP boycott does not improve local governance; shaming the government for not giving autonomous powers to the local governments would have been far better. Then again, the PPP itself is opposed to empowering local communities.
Although APNU, AFC and PPP use language of local government empowerment, none has been willing to devolve power away from the central government to the local bodies; all three parties want to hog power at the center for themselves fearing powerful local communities.
So far, none of parties have consulted with the citizens on determining whether there should be more or less power for them or what kind of governance they desire. They discuss and debate in Parliament without ever once thinking of the view of the constituents; it is as though the people in Georgetown know what is best for the people in Black Bush Polder or Charity or Tiger Bay – how arrogant!
Consultations with the people would have yielded views for draft legislation with a view of amending several acts of the (fraudulent) Constitution to give greater autonomy and responsibilities to local government. Nearly useless local government reform (hardly anything to do with power) is being forced upon the population without giving them additional powers to manage their destinies.
The three parties need to allow the local communities to take charge of their own affairs and govern their own communities with power to tax, spend, pass bills, enforce laws, control local schools and be in charge of sanitation, etc. That is real local government reform.
In neighboring Trinidad, the newly elected PNM government is holding public forums to give greater responsibility (in fact autonomy) to local government to run their own affairs and be in charge of all matters falling within their jurisdiction (education, sanitation, law enforcement, tourism, markets, tax, spend, etc.). Guyana should do same as is also the case in the US, Canada, India, Australia, etc. Guyanese Americans in Richmond Hill and Flatbush have a lot of power to manage affairs in their communities.
The Trinidad government plans to emulate that model and add more powers to the people in their local areas. The PNM government plans to give people the power in the local communities to approve budgets and expenditures.
The local bodies will be tasked with the responsibility of collecting and using for the development of their own areas with additional revenues coming in from the central government. Empowering local government will lead to significant improvement in citizens’ lives. It is not late for PPP (and PNC and AFC) to suggest legislation in parliament to give full powers to the communities.
Vishnu Bisram

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