The Opposition should not participate in local government elections

Apr 11, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – If the main Opposition, PNCR, is smart, it would rethink what appears to be its decision to participate in this year’s local government elections. The Opposition has said clearly that it does not wish to lose control of its strongholds – the strongest signal that it will participate in the forthcoming LGE in order to prevent the PPP/C gaining a clean sweep.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has said that it will not be participating in this year’s local government elections. That decision was expected given the AFC’s loss of support and its poor performance at the 2018 local government elections. The PNCR does not need the AFC to be able to comfortably win in its strongholds. The PNCR can even with a 25% turnout retain control of all of the municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils which it presently controls.

But if the PNCR is crafty, it would look beyond merely trying to retain control of those municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils over which it presently commands majority support. The PNCR should take a close look at the state of the towns which it controls and recognise that it may be in its long-term interest to allow the PPP/C to seize control of those municipalities if only for the next two years until local government elections are called in 2025.

The PNCR has not been effective in managing its municipalities. The management of Georgetown stands as an indictment against the decades-long control which the PNCR has exercised over the affairs of the town. The PNCR-dominated City Council is the most financially flush of all municipalities. It has the largest revenue base of all towns. It receives the highest subvention of all municipalities. Yet, look at the condition of its home – City Hall. That national monument has been allowed to run into decay to the point where in normal circumstances, it would have had to be condemned and pulled down. It is the PPP/C government which is now spending close to a quarter of a billion dollars to help restore that structure.

The largest burial ground in the Caribbean is the La Repentir Cemetery. In colonial British Guiana, it used to be one of the best maintained cemeteries in the Caribbean. Today, it is overrun by bush and trees. It is a virtual jungle, an eyesore and a national disgrace. Look at the condition of the markets administered by the Georgetown City Council. Look at the chaos, confusion and nastiness that characterize Georgetown. Look at the state of municipal roads.

The fact of the matter is that the state of Georgetown is not likely to improve if the PNCR retains control of that municipality. But if the PPP/C is given a walk-over victory, you can bet that the government will try to fix-up the city to make the ruling party look good. It will try to prove to the population that it is a better alternative and therefore is likely to inject considerable resources into improve the affairs of the municipality. The same thing applies to those other municipalities which are controlled by the Opposition. Regardless of the reasons for the poor state of these municipalities, you can bet that once the PPP/C wins in these areas, the government will pour resources into them so as to make the ruling party look good.

The Opposition should see a strategic advantage in temporary ceding control of the municipality of Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Linden, Bartica and Mahdia for the next two years. You can bet that within those two years, the PPP/C will pump billions into these areas thereby improving all the municipal services including cemeteries, markets, roads, garbage collection and drainage. After the government has fixed-up those towns, the Opposition can retake control of the renovated municipalities. In other words, take a chance by not participating in local government elections, allow the government to win and invest into the towns and then retake those municipalities in the 2025 local government elections. This should not be a gamble at all. The Opposition can easily regain control of those municipalities and in the process show that if the government really wanted those towns to flourish, it can do so.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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Alliance For Change (AFC), opposition, Peeping Tom, PNCR, PPP/C

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