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Work for the good of your communities, not as rivals to central Gov’t.
– Bulkan urges newly elected Councillors
In the aftermath of the historic Local Government Elections (LGE) held on Friday, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has urged that the newly elected Councillors work for the good of their communities and not to rival central government.
Bulkan made this statement during a press conference at the Ministry of the Presidency, soon after the elections. He also expressed disappointment at remarks made by former President and Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, who had just cast his vote in the election, which was never conducted for two decades while the PPP was in administration.
“I know that the Leader of the Opposition, in public remarks on Friday, has remarked that he sees it as a priority of his political party to intensify their campaign to regain the seat of central government.”
“It (comment) is unfortunate because local government is an important vehicle. It is not meant to be a rival to central government and it is actually a gateway to a good life.”
Bulkan said that Friday’s elections do not represent a victory for any party, but rather represents a victory for Guyanese on a whole. Noting that much work lies ahead, Bulkan stated that the elections were an opportunity for candidates to serve the residents of their constituencies and reverse the decay that has stymied development in some communities.
“As far as the Ministry of Communities is concerned, the elections is the first of three components in the restoration of the collapsed system of Local Government, (the others being) institutional and capacity building within the core councillors who are coming into office with enthusiasm, but probably lacking requisite experience.
Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan
“And lastly, the question of financing,” he said. “Those councils (must) have access to financing, which will largely determine how successful they are in discharging their responsibilities. So they will need support from central Government and in particular the Ministry of Communities.”
On Friday, Jagdeo had stated that the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) priority immediately after LGE is to intensify its campaign in both PPP and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) areas to regain the seat of central government. This was just after he had cast his ballot at St. John’s College, Waterloo Street, Georgetown.
“We need to consolidate our base,” he had said. “But we need to work hard in APNU-controlled areas to explain to people that our policies are good for everyone, all of the people of the country, and that they have nothing and that they had nothing to fear in the past with us being in power.
“They have nothing to fear with us resuming power and that we value their support too. The PPP intends to attract more women, youth and older folks to join and support the PPPC.”
From whatever preliminary figures it had, the party has also been claiming that it has won 60 percent of the votes in the elections and that the results “vindicate its long held view that the party was always prepared to contest LGE and could never be held responsible for delaying these elections.”
Local Government Commission
Meanwhile, Bulkan also shed some insight on the establishment of the Local Government Commission, which is supposed to have oversight for all local authorities. While he could not give a definite date for it becoming operational, he said it would be “soon.”
“The (start of operations) of the Local Government Commission is expected to be fairly imminent,” Bulkan said.
“We have been engaged recently in a search for suitable premises; we have not been able to identify any government properties that are suitable for this purpose, so it may require rental of suitable premises.”
Last year Bulkan had stated that the Commission would be operational by early 2016. Under the Local Government Commission Act 2012, some of the powers the Commission will be to monitor and review how well the new Local Government organs have been performing and implementing policies, including tax collection and environmental issues.
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