LGE: Questions for the contestants

Feb 12, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

In the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), I have to vote in Georgetown. The positive thing about these elections is that the electorate has a choice among constituency competitors. In my columns over the past three decades, I have never shied away from disclosing how I have voted since I came 18 years old.
Georgetowners have two votes—a constituency choice (commonly referred to as first-past-the-post) and a Georgetown choice (proportional representation). I am unsure as yet how I will vote on the proportional representation list. How my questions are answered here will determine that particular ballot.
I know who I will vote for in my constituency. I will put my X for Bryan Mackintosh (he is not on the PR list). It is not because he lives in my compound at Turkeyen only. I know Bryan well. I know his philosophy, and that knowledge is the reason I will give him the nod. But, also, he is part of my constituency. I see him and his wife almost daily when I drive past their home.
When there are issues in our compound, he is always there offering his ideas. I can think of no reason why I should not vote for him. Of course, there may be another candidate that may be wiser than Mackintosh, but I will have to be shown him/her.
If the contesting parties are going to bring the world’s most brilliant engineer and put him in my constituency, I will not vote for him/her. I am giving my ballot to someone I know, who has a track record in the neighbourhood where I live. A brilliant surgeon may not serve my area in a dedicated way as the milkman, therefore, the milkman will get my ballot.
Constituency politics has a philosophical advantage that no scholar in any textbook I know of has denied. The simple fact is that the contestant serves your community and you can have him or her dumped by the community if he/she does not perform.
I have been hearing some crazy things about placements in the communities by political parties. I understand a man born, grew up, still lives in Lodge in South Georgetown (a ward adjacent to my birthplace, Wortmanville) was overlooked for someone who is from the upper East Coast, but will represent Lodge.
That is strange, and the only logic to it is that a constituency politician may not be good material, but is using his birth and existence in the neighbourhood to get elected. But at the end of the day, people will vote for those they know, grew up with, and will be suspicious of strangers.
As stated above, I don’t know how I will vote on the PR list. I have a few questions and how they are answered will determine against whose name I put my X. Of course, I could and will never give my ballot to the PPP.
First, is the office of the Town Clerk under the jurisdiction of the Council? Secondly, will the Council dismiss or discipline the Town Clerk (not Royston King or any specific name, but the Town Clerk) if that office-holder acts illegally in terms of political or racial or financial favours?
This is an immense concern to me, because despite the largeness of Guyana, the Town Clerk of Georgetown has enormous power in Guyana, and such power has been used in an ugly manner over the past three decades.
The PPP Government has weakened and discriminated against the City Council, but this should not delude us into giving sympathy to the administration of the City Council. The Mayor and City Council of Georgetown has no record of service with transparency and accountability. This depravity and travesty should be exorcized from local power after the LGE next month
Thirdly, will the Council rein in the City Constabulary? This is a group that goes about brutalizing poor vendors, stall-owners and road-side vendors. They are ignorant people that have become a law unto themselves. I know of not one stallholder or vendor that will say even one word of praise for the city police or display even a fleeting moment of respect for these people. They are bullies that enjoy the protection of the administrators of the City Council.
Finally, will the Council demand that the City Engineer stop keeping citizens’ building plans for years, thus frustrating these people?
And how do I know this? I once had a plan in there. My relatives had plans in there. My friends had plans in there. The rich get through quickly through bribes. I need unambiguous answers to these questions before I vote.

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