Government doesn’t want the Local Government Commission

Aug 30, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The repeated reports in the media, with August 22, 2017 being the most recent, on the non-appointment of the Local Government Commission, once again quotes the Minister of Communities, Mr. R. Bulkan, as saying that it will be appointed by the end of 2017. The fact that he said that it would have been appointed by the end of 2016 and budgetary provisions were made in both the 2016 and 2017 Annual Budget for the Local Government Commission seems to cause no embarrassment to the Minister or the APNU/AFC government.
Yet the appointment of the Local Government Commission was a major set piece in the APNU+AFC Coalition 2015 election campaign. Actually, as far back as 2008, the postponement of the planned local government election in that year, following the agreed on House to House registration process, was based on the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr. R. Corbin’s withholding support of the PNC for these elections until the passage of 4 local government bills, including the Local Government Commission Bill and the appointment of the Local Government Commission. Before becoming minister, Bulkan had been critical of Minister Whittaker for not moving to operationalise the Commission. Furthermore, one of the AFC’s key demands for its support of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment ) Bill 2014 was the immediate issuance of the Commencement Order for the Act to take effect and the appointment of the Commission..
However, since taking office, the APNU+AFC Coalition seems to have had second thoughts. Earlier in May 2017, Minister Ronald Bulkan is reported to have said “that neither he nor President David Granger were ready to name their nominees for the long-delayed Local Government Commission (LGC) and he maintained that in its absence the local government system was functioning effectively”. Three months later there is still no movement by the government.
It might be useful to recap for the public, the many and on-going attempts by the Parliamentary Opposition to have this Commission appointed. The following are the facts:-
i) The Local Government Commission Act was assented to on November 6, 2013 after going through a parliamentary special select committee chaired by Mr. Basil Williams and an APNU/AFC majority;
ii) The APNU and AFC used their majority to amend the original composition of the Commission to what exists in the statutes today— eight members: three appointed by the President, one appointed by the Minister after consultation with the Local Democratic Organs, one member nominated by unions operating in the local government sector through a consultative process by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments and approved by Parliament, and three nominated by the Leader of the Opposition after consultation with other parliamentary parties;
iii) In April, 2016, the Committee of Appointments named Andrew Christopher Garnett, of the Guyana Local Government Officers’ Union as the nominee from the trade unions, this nominee was approved by a majority in the National .Assembly in August 8,2016:.
iv)On July 6th, 2016, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo identified former Georgetown Town Clerk Carol Sooba and former Local Government Ministers Norman Whittaker and Clinton Collymore as his three nominees to be appointed by the President to the Commission;
v) Despite an exchange of Teixeira /Bulkan correspondence in months of July and August 2016, Minister Bulkan continued to insist that the LGC will be operationalised once Jagdeo has stated whether he satisfied the requirements of the legislation and “consulted with all parliamentary parties.” In fact, the Act states “consultation with other parliamentary parties; “
vi) On November 4th, 2016, in response to a Question without Notice to a Minister on the delay in the appointment of the members of the Local Government Commission, the Minister admitted that a Commencement Order had not been issued to date and that that would be necessary to be done before the Commission could be appointed. Secondly he admitted that the government was still searching for suitable persons. He did not respond to whether efforts had been made to consult with the 71 Local Authorities with regard to their nominee;
vii) During the debate on the 2017 Budget in December 2016, the Minister was again grilled on the non-appointment of the LGC and questioned about the use of funds allocated in the 2016 Budget when there was no Commission in place;
viii) In February, 2017, Teixeira told Stabroek News that whilst her party is of the view that the intent of the Act was for the Opposition Leader to consult other parliamentary opposition parties, the PPP/C was willing in the interest of not hindering the appointment of the LGC to play along and convene a consultation with all parliamentary parties to receive their nominees for his consideration in accordance with the LGC Act;
ix) The PPP/C on May 23, 2017 invited the General Secretary, Minister J. Harmon of the APNU and the Chairman, Minister K. Ramjattan of the AFC to a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition to discuss the nominees for the LGC during the first break of the June 15, 2017 sitting of the National Assembly;
x) The Chairman of the AFC responded formally that he was “unavailable in the month of June”. He is quoted in the press as saying “I have my work with me, which I complete during the break. They can’t just set a date and expect us to turn up if we already have other plans;”
xi) At the June 15, 2017 sitting, during the first break, a letter was delivered from Minister Harmon’s office advising that Mr. Desmond Trotman was the named representative for the APNU to the meeting;
xii) The meeting on June 15, 2017 was held with the Leader of the Opposition and his team with Mr. Trotman. The APNU representatives asserted that he was certain that APNU had nominees but that he was not in a position to name them at that meeting. As a result, it was mutually agreed that the APNU would submit its nominees for the Leader of the Opposition’s consideration no later than June 30, 2017;
xiii) On August 15, 2017, the General Secretary of the APNU was informed that having waited and not received any submissions as agreed, the Leader of the Opposition was proceeding to make his nominations. On the same day, the Minister of Communities was written to advising of the efforts made by the Leader of the Opposition to consult with other parliamentary parties and the re-submission of his original three nominees of July 2016.
xiv) As of today, the government has not
a) Issued a Commencement Order to bring the Local Government Commission Act into effect; nor,
b) Named the three persons to be appointed by the President; nor,
c) Consulted with the Local Democratic Organs to arrive at a nominee;
So a year later, there has been absolutely no movement.
Gail Teixeira

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