Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Controversy overshadows first meeting of Local Govt. Commission
-Minister Bulkan accused of political grandstanding
The three members of the Local Government Commission (LGC) nominated by Opposition Leader,
LGC member, Norman Whittaker
Bharrat Jagdeo, have accused Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, of political grandstanding for holding the commission’s first meeting on Friday, in their absence.
Former Government Ministers, Norman Whittaker and Clinton Collymore, and former Georgetown Town Clerk, Carol Sooba, have denied that their absence from the meeting was linked to calls by Jagdeo for non-cooperation with the government over the unilateral appointment of retired Justice James Patterson as chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Minister Bulkan claimed that the meeting was scheduled for Friday at 13:00 hours and this was communicated to all members in an email correspondence following their swearing-in on Monday. Whittaker explained that he replied to the Minister’s email by indicating that he would be absent due to conflicting engagements and suggested the meeting be held this week.
The Minister made no mention of Whittaker’s response. Instead, he seemed surprised that the three opposition-nominated members did not attend the meeting.
A photograph of the five other commissioners at Friday’s meeting was published by DPI. In attendance were Mortimer Mingo, Andrew Garnett, Joan Ann Romascindo, Clement Corlette and Marlon Williams.
“The Minister had proposed a date and time and I emailed the Minister to inform him that the date and time were not convenient to me. I didn’t even know that the meeting was held. I thought that the Minister would have subsequently informed me at least that notwithstanding your absence we had this meeting,” Whittaker told Kaieteur News.
He stated that from his understanding, his other two colleagues also found the date and time inconvenient.
“Why go ahead? I didn’t see the urgency about it. The government did not treat the Local Government Commission coming into being with any urgency. Thanks to Civil Society and the Opposition who kept the pressure to have the Local Government Commission installed then all of a sudden just after we took the oath there is this urgency.
Five of the eight commissioners at the inaugural Local Government Commission (LGC) meeting, from left to right: Mortimer Mingo, Andrew Garnett, Joan Ann Romascindo, Clement Corlette and Marlon Williams. (DPI Photo)
“You had the Commission holding for two years so a week would not have made that big a difference,” Whittaker stated.
He believes that the Minister’s decision to go ahead with the meeting was political grandstanding.
The meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, October 31 at Parliament Buildings where it is expected that the Commission will appoint a Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Other items on the agenda include budgeting for the 2017-2020 period, establishment/identification of a building to facilitate the operations of the commission, employment of technical, clerical and administrative staff along with the drafting of a work plan.
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