Local democracy and economic development

Aug 05, 2018 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By H.E. David Granger

Local government is central to fostering democratic decision-making and community development. The Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana states clearly at Article 71(1):
Local Government is a vital aspect of democracy and shall be organized as to involve as many people as possible in the task of managing and developing the communities in which they live.
Your government, consistent with its Constitution mandate, restored local democracy on 18th March 2016 after an absence of two decades. The Minister of Communities has announced the 12th November 2018 as the date for the conduct of local government elections, the first time in decades that local government elections would be held when lawfully due.
The conduct of regular elections reflects government’s sincere commitment to promoting democratic renewal and community development where they count first and most – from the bottom-up. It is manifestation of government’s resolve to empower citizens to take control of their own communities.
Local democracy is an appropriate approximation of Abraham Lincoln’s adage about “…government of the people, by the people and for the people.” It gives common citizens the means of holding their high officials accountable and of removing or rewarding them, or of rejecting or re-electing them, as the case may be, on the basis of their performance.
Local democracy allows citizens a greater say in their local democratic organs. It creates the catalyst for transforming their neighbourhoods, villages and communities into centres of human interaction.
Local democracy, therefore, is not an academic abstraction. It requires institutions, structures, and systems of governance which can positively transform regions, towns, neighbourhoods, villages and communities and the lives of the citizens who live there.
Guyana is divided into administrative regions which, in turn, may be subdivided into municipalities, neighbourhood democratic councils and village councils – three tiers of which constitute local democratic organs. These organs are not an ornamental pyramid. They are as part of the system of devolved governance aimed at ensuring an inclusive and democratic state which will promote citizen’s well-being.
The ‘Constitution’ vests local democratic organs – Regional Democratic Councils, Municipalities, Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and Village Councils – with the authority:
… to maintain and protect public property, improve working and living conditions, promote the social and cultural life of the people, raise civil consciousness, preserve law and order, consolidate the rule of law and safeguard the rights of citizens.
These are demanding duties. These are vast responsibilities. These functions require collaboration, cooperation and coordination between the various local government organs and Central Government. They require commitment by all and at all levels of government and society.
Local government organs must deliver quality public services to residents. The provision of public services is vital to improving the living and working conditions within neighbourhoods and villages. Local government organs are required to provide quality and reliable services such as:
– preserving cultural values and propagating customs and mores;
– providing and maintaining bridges, drainage and irrigation structures, roads, security, street-lighting, sanitation, sporting and recreational facilities; and
– promoting education, employment and economic enterprises, including cottage industries and health.
Local government organs must be autonomous to allow them to serve their residents’ best interests. They must not be dominated by or become dependent on, Central Government.
Some local democratic organs, particularly at the neighbourhood and village levels, have been weakened. This is not due to any fault of the residents but because of the lack of resources – financial, human and technical – to guarantee the efficient delivery of quality public services to residents. Their revenue base has been constrained; they often lack technical expertise and, as a consequence, become dependent on government subventions to finance their day-to-day operations.
VILLAGES
I declared 7th November each year as National Day of Villages in recognition of the centrality of villages to the future of our nation. I noted, then, that the majority of Guyanese, for the most part, were children of villages. The majority of our people still live in villages. It was our villages which incubated our nation. Villages are the cradle and crucible of the nation.
Villages need not feel that they have been neglected. They are not sleepy hamlets. Residents, indeed, may leave early in the morning to work outside of the village and return in the evenings to sleep. This means that the economic bases of villages need to be rebuilt in order to stimulate local employment and enterprise. The relentless processes of urbanization and migration overseas and to the local the gold and diamond fields, have always tended to depopulate the villages.
Villages, through the rebirth of local democracy, could look forward to renewal and revitalization. This process must be led by the neighbourhood democratic councils, working in collaboration with the coordination of the regional democratic councils and Central Government.
I repeat the invocation made on the 7th November 2016. The Ministry of Communities will work with the elected local authorities and other stakeholders to revitalise village economies:
– village economies must flourish by the establishment of micro- and medium-scale enterprises to generate industries and businesses which will provide employment; by growing food again; producing goods again; providing services again; village lands must bloom again by being placed under cultivation.
– village democracy must flourish again through regular local government elections and the selection of local leaders who care for their communities and who represent their constituencies;
– village cultural life must be revived. Villages must have happy homes, happy families and happy neighbourhoods. Villages must become socially cohesive units promoting inter-ethnic harmony. Community centres must come alive with athletic, cultural and social activities and trade fairs.
Neighbourhood democratic councils must drive the revitalization and renewal of their villages. They must ensure local democracy, revive their cultural lives and rebuild strong village economies.
I iterate my recommendation to the National Toshaos Council that consideration should be given to the adoption of village improvement plans (VIPs). These plans should be blueprints for improving the delivery of services in communities countrywide. The VIPs must address, as a priority, four major categories of public services:
– first, the improvement of access, attendance and achievement in public education should be a major obligation of any administration – local, regional or central. Village councils should ensure that every child attends and graduates from school in order to benefit from the opportunities which education unlocks.;
– second, employment should not be limited to everyday village life. Opportunities should be opened for your people to be educated as accountants, attorneys, businesspersons, doctors, engineers, managers and other professional occupations. Every child should be given the opportunity to be best that she or he could be. Job-creation, especially through programmes which foster self-employment and entrepreneurship, should be emphasised. Agro-processing, eco-tourism and value-added manufacturing can be developed to generate incomes to boost the village economies;
– third, the quality of human life is linked to the quality of the environment. Plans, therefore, must build environmental resilience against the threats of droughts, floods, land degradation, reckless disposal of solid waste, pollution of waterways and the cold-blooded exploitation of wildlife. Plans must promote human wellness through improved health services. Residents must be able to enjoy medical treatment at health centres in their own communities and regions. Plans must be devised to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy, cancers, communicable and vector-borne diseases such as such as dengue, chickungunya and malaria; and
– fourth, every community should have access to affordable, reliable and renewable energy. This will help to establish reservoirs and wells and to power agro-processing enterprises, households, health centres, schools and community facilities. The supply of ‘green’ energy and safe water should not be left to chance or taken for granted.
Plans for the delivery of services – particularly those related to education, economic development, energy and the environment – will certainly yield improvements in villagers’ quality of life.
Plans must aim at ensuring more sustainable and secure livelihoods, boosting human wellbeing, creating increased opportunities and reducing the inequalities between the coastland and hinterland communities.
CONFERENCE
The National Conference of Local Democratic Organs (NCLDO) should be an annual forum aimed at establishing itself as a vehicle for delivering improved services to all local communities.
It is about planning and implementation. It must erect institutions to ensure accessible, affordable and appropriate services in all villages.
The NCLDO is intended to support local government organs. It can foster collaboration, and improve coordination so as to support the renewal and revitalization of our villages and communities.
The NCLDO aims at empowering, not emasculating, local democratic organs. It respects their autonomy. It charges local democratic organs with ushering in a new era in local government, one that will help to improve citizens’ quality of life, build local democracy and promote economic development. This is the future that we all desire and deserve.

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