Dharamlall justifies adjustment of Local Govt. boundaries

Nov 27, 2022 News

…says changes allow for greater representation

Kaieteur News – The decision by the Government of Guyana to adjust the local district boundaries allows for greater representation at the 2023 Local Government Elections (LGE), Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall said on Friday.

Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall

Dharamlall at a Press Conference told Reporters that the Government’s move to return to the 2016 local district boundaries while adjusting others, is not aimed at reducing seats allotted to those contesting the elections.

“No we have not contracted any boundaries or reduced any seats,” the Minister said.

He was responding to claims by former Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Michael Carrington, that seats for the Hauraruni-Yarrowkabra Neigbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) were reduced without any consultation.

Dharamlall, however, told Reporters that indeed some adjustments were made to constituency boundaries in some of the local authorities and claimed that changes made were not done without consultation.

“In all of the changes that have been done we have consulted… we have met with residents” Dharamlall said.

The Local Government Minister said that his government chose to expand constituency boundaries for better representation for competing parties and to cater for voters who unable to participate in 2018 local government elections.

“We inherited 596 constituencies from 2018 and we have now expanded to 610 constituencies so as a matter of fact we have expanded and not contracted”, the local government minister added.

Fourteen local authorities were changed by the then A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration for the 2018 LGE.

Further, he disclosed that boundaries were only adjusted in Regions 1 to 6. In Region One, “boundaries of the Mabaruma township were extended to include Wongna” while in Region Two, the Government has chosen to merge the Kitty/Providence NDC and the Moruca/Felix NDC into one.

For Region Three, Dharamlall said the decision was taken to “revert to the 2016 constituency boundaries in quite a few NDCs that were changed by the previous Government in 2018”.

The same was also done for Region Four while the Woodlands Boundary, in Mahaica, Region Five, was extended to include many areas along the De Hoop Access Road.

In Region Six, the No. 52 to No. 74 NDC, was split in two new NDCs because the population is too large. Those two new NDCs will be No. 52 to No. 63 and No. 64 to No. 74.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has expressed concern over the changes made by the Government. At a Press Conference held last Tuesday, APNU+AFC member, Mervyn Williams, said that the adjustments is unlawful because the Minister is only empowered to identify the boundaries but it is the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) responsibility to merge or split boundaries.

He claimed that GECOM played no role and that the Government has acted outside of its legislative powers.

Further, Williams said that the adjustments place the Opposition at a disadvantage when contesting the elections because parties are unaware of changes made to the constituency boundaries in the various Local Authority Areas.

Local Government Elections is scheduled for March 13, 2023.

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