Municipalities will now have one voice…GAM resuscitated

May 25, 2017 News

Members of the re-activated GAM Patricia Chase-Green, Darul Khan, Kirt Wynter, Wanika Arrindel, Carwyn Holland, Nageshwri Lochanprashad, Gifford Marshall, Vijay Ramoo, Kirk Fraser, Carlton Beckles and Maxine Welch.

The Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM) has been officially re-activated. The body came into being on May 20, 2017. Elections were held Saturday morning at the Regency Hotel, it was part of a two-day Municipal Conference held by the Interim Management Committee of GAM.

The President of the Association is Carwyn Holland (Mayor of Linden) who said that the association’s first mission will be to handle finances of GAM.

He said that he is overjoyed that the association has been reactivated and that municipalities will “now have one voice.”

Mayors of Corriverton and Anna Regina were absent from the Conference, and elections. However Deputy Mayor of Anna Regina was present.

The President of the Association is Holland, Vice President Gifford Marshall (Mayor of Bartica), Treasurer Patricia Chase-Green (Mayor Georgetown), Secretary Kirt Wynter (Mayor of New Amsterdam), and Assistant secretary/ treasurer Kirk Fraser (councillor).

Elected Committee Members are Carlton Beckles (Mayor of Lethem) alternate Maxine Welch (Deputy of Lethem), Vijay Ramoo (Rose Hall), Nageshwri Lochanprashad (Deputy Mayor of Bartica), Darul Khan (representative of Anna Regina) , Carolyn Caesar (representative of Georgetown), and Wanika Arrindel (Deputy Mayor of Linden).

Holland applauded the Ministry of Communities and said that GAM is committed to helping local government weaknesses and “Getting the system in order.”

GAM started 12 years ago with six municipalities. It was guided by eight key objectives; the main aim was to unite municipalities of Guyana with the respective councils. This was to be done through a body whose common effort shall be devoted to the sustenance and development of respective municipalities.

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan who holds the responsibility for local government, commended the Mayors and councilors of the municipalities for their initiative to reactivate GAM.

The role of GAM and local government as a whole is seen as an important platform in the national development of the nation, with the potential to unlock resources, and create economic opportunities at the local level. GAM has a crucial role to play in strengthening municipal governance and management structure for national development.

The global trend has been one where the involvement of local government associations (LGAs) in the design and implementation of capacity building programmes, has led to a global expansion in forms of decentralized cooperation.

It also forged an increasing trend to assign LGAs with the responsibility to implement local government capacity-building programs financed by external aid agencies.

Minister of Communities Bulkan vowed to work with GAM in pursuit of President David Granger’s vision of strengthening all three levels of administration (National, Regional and Local) to spur and deepen National Development.

Mayor of Georgetown, Chase-Green, reiterated GAM’s commitment to seek to widen networks and build capacity among municipalities.

Speaking on the absent Mayors, Ms Chase-Green explained that “GAM is looking at the best interest of the municipalities; we are for the people, not for one individual.”

Mayor of Bartica, Gifford Marshall, explained that many of the issues at local government levels are common across the different municipalities. He said that GAM will be making recommendations to the Ministry of Communities, and the association will be looking to take it as far as Parliament.

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