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Blind political loyalty is an impediment to development
DEAR EDITOR,
I was at a few meetings of both the Peoples Progressive Party (P.P.P) and A Partnership for National Unity (A.P.N.U.) in Region # 2 within the Good Hope – Pomona Neighbourhood Democratic Council (N.D.C.) and I was surprised that names on the list of Candidates representing those parties at the upcoming Local Government Elections (L.G.E.) were not announced and a couple of those persons were at the meeting.
The List of Candidates for all the parties that are contesting the November 12, 2018 Elections are at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) offices established within the N.D.C., but by the level of interest displayed by a large amount of the electorate in these elections, they would not find time and money to check the Voters’ List, which is also at the GECOM Offices, to ascertain if their names are on same.
More or less the Candidates’ List, be it the Proportional Representation (P.R.) of the Constituency FPTP, and the extremely poor turnout at meetings, would endorse the point I am making, and because of this I feel that at the meetings they should announce the names of the candidates on the various lists.
I strongly believe also that there should be debates with the candidates on the constituency lists representing the political parties, along with those independent candidates and interest groups.
These debates would give the voters a fair idea of what level of representation they can expect at the constituency level should a particular candidate be elected.
Peeping Tom in one of his columns recently stated that the amount of interest groups and independent candidates has reduced significantly from the last L.G.E. to the upcoming one, mainly because those groups and individuals believe that with the system as it is, irrespective of their ability to make strong representation on behalf of the people, they would not garner the support they deserve.
Strange but true, those who never advocated for Local Government Elections to be held, are now telling the people how important these elections are and how they must vote. Blind political loyalty is an impediment to the development of a N.D.C. Municipality and by extension the country.
Most of the voters are simply not interested about the names and the ability of the candidates on the list; they would be looking for the Party Symbol.
On a related issue, I strongly believe that a person should not at the same time be a N.D.C. Councillor and a R.D.C. Councillor – also being a Town Councillor and a R.D.C. Councillor should not be allowed. It is like being a member of the lower house and the upper house during the same period.
There may be times when you may be called to vote on, discuss, debate the same issue or proposal, or to make a presentation that you may have put forward, and while both Chapter 28:01 of the Municipal and District Councils Act, and 28:02 of the Local Government Act are silent on being both at the same time, good judgement should prevail.
I can remember 2006, when I served as a Councillor of the Region # 2 R.D.C., a person was the Chairman of the Evergreen Paradise N.D.C. and was also a R.D.C. Councillor. Objections were made, but as expected, the situation remained the same until the R.D.C.s were dissolved for the holding of the 2011 elections.
Archie Cordis
Former A.F.C. Councillor
Region # 2
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