Local government and democracy

Oct 16, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Have Local Democratic Organs in Guyana truly empowered the people? Have Local Government Elections truly returned democracy to Guyana? These and other questions keep regurgitating in the minds of the masses as we near another Local Government Election on November 12th.
In an article in the Guyana Chronicle dated July 29, 2018, captioned, ‘Empowering people through Local Government Elections’ it states that, ‘Ensuring that democracy is maintained is paramount to ensuring that a country is run in the best interest of all its peoples, ensuring that all citizens have equal access to the nation’s resources and services offered by the State’.
It went further to state that the quest for the ‘good life’ is at the foundation of the current Administration’s mandate’. Are citizens really having ‘equal access to the nation’s resources’? This is so far from the truth!
The Kilcoy/Hampshire, which is won by the PPP/C by an overwhelming majority in the last LGE has been assigned a mini-excavator to dig and maintain the drainage system in the NDC but a few months ago this machine was taken to Georgetown under the pretext of repairs. It is still to be returned while the drains in the NDC are clogged.
This is a clear case where the NDC is supposed to look inefficient and incompetent in the eyes of the residents. Fortunately, the rains are not here! On the other hand, the Fyrish NDC, which is next door was the recipient of a spanking new long boom excavator to maintain and improve its drainage system, compliments of the President. This is the trend throughout Region Six.
This Government feels that once Local Government Elections are held on a timely basis, that is, every three years then that is the ‘democracy’ and ‘empowerment’ which citizens in every community need to propel social and economic development.
Of course all elections are about democracy once they are deemed to be free and fair but empowerment can only be realized when resources are sufficiently available to carry out the functions of these NDCs and municipalities.
These functions are to provide efficient services for the residents as stated in the laws. These services include sanitation, garbage disposal, road/dam maintenance, market facilities, burial grounds, abattoirs, drainage, etc. This is in addition to maintain and protect public property and to levy and collect rates and taxes.
How can these NDCs and municipalities function effectively without adequate resources? There can be no empowerment without sufficient resources. This Government is all about empty rhetoric!
If one looks at the finance, which is garnered from rates and taxes and the meager subvention given by Central Government one would realize that this is wholly inadequate. This is compounded by the fact that proposals made by the NDCs and Municipalities are badly trimmed when included in the Regional Budget.
Many of the proposed projects are ‘scissorsed’ leaving the few selected ones at the mercy of the Central Government. These LGOs should be able to represent themselves at the Central Government level and this is where the Local Government Commission comes in to play.
The Local Government Commission is given a varied task in terms of policies implementation and making recommendations and the same with any legislation. The LGC is also tasked with examining and proposing ways of enhancing the capacity of the Local Democratic Organs (LDOs). This is an area, which the LGC should seriously contemplate.
In terms of capacity building, we are told that the gerrymandering of the boundaries of some NDCs was to enhance these LDOs capacity. However, this is far from the reality. Even though the Minister can change the boundaries of these NDCs the LGC, the Opposition and the residents should have been consulted in this ‘capacity enhancing’ process.
But the intention is not ‘capacity building’. On June 8, Mr. Bulkan published two orders, which amended 14 Local government Areas, removing a total of sixteen constituencies and activated nine LGAs including the township of Mahdia. In so doing, he has incapacitated the PPP/C by 32 seats at the upcoming LGE, thus effectively closing the margin of defeat which the APNU/AFC suffered at the last Local Government Election at the hands of the PPP/C.
Is this the local democracy, which this Government is boasting about? Is this how the ‘country is run in the best interest of all its people’?
Furthermore, the Minister accused the PPP that it was more concerned with concentrating power in the hands of its appointed Minister of Local and Regional Development but now we are seeing that the actions of Minister Bulkan is nothing short of that of a dictator!
Is this how this Granger’s Administration is committed to ‘promoting democratic renewal and community development’? The recent electoral frauds perpetrated by APNU and AFC and ably assisted by GECOM would also suggest this Government is more concerned about ‘dictatorial renewal’ not ‘democratic renewal’.
Moreover, Article 71 (1) was seriously breached by Mr. Bulkan since the involvement of the people in the task of managing and developing their communities has been seriously invalidated and the functioning of the LGC compromised. This Government’s penchant for breaching our Constitution, the Supreme Law of the land, has now become a daily past time.
Unfortunately, the quest for the ‘good life’ still remains a quest!
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
RDC Councillor Region 6

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