Jagdeo is no convert to local democracy

Apr 21, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – From the way the PPP’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, prattled away at yesterday’s press conference, any observer uninitiated in Guyana’s political history would be tempted to believe that Jagdeo and his party, the PPP/C, were champions of local democracy.

But the truth should set the record straight. The PPP/C did not hold local elections between 1994 and 2016, a period of more than two decades.

Those twenty years would have taken a toll on the local government system. It led to a system of attrition to the point where some local government councils because of attrition could not muster a quorum.

Jagdeo needs to be reminded that no local government elections were hosted during his 12 years as President. His government had a preferred mechanism for bypassing the democratic will of the people. It was called Interim Management Committees (IMCs) which allowed the PPP/C administration to install non-elected representatives in neighbourhood democratic councils.

It was also under Jagdeo’s Presidency that recommendations, made by the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reforms, were left to languish. While much of the intransigence over local government reforms took place under Jagdeo, it was his successor Donald Ramotar, a decent man, who bore the brunt of criticisms for not holding local government elections and not proceeding with greater alacrity with local government reforms.

And as much as he wants to brood over the PNCR’s failure to contest in 24 local government areas during the June 2023 local government elections, including in Lethem where the APNU is not fielding any candidates, he should be thankful that it was David Granger which declared Lethem a town, as he did also in respect to Madhia, Bartica and Mabaruma. The declaration of new towns by the APNU served to expand local democracy to all ten of Guyana’s administrative regions, a decision which Jagdeo did not even contemplate during his 12-year presidency.

In the post- Jagan years, the PPP/C held a perverted notion of local democracy.  The PPP/C’s idea of local democracy is one in which local democratic organs are bypassed.

There was recently a decision to take over the rehabilitation of the country’’ markets. The Mayor of Georgetown had to indicate his displeasure with this decision as there has been no agreement towards this end.

The PPP/C’s idea of local democracy has been to keep local democratic organs weak and dependent on central government. All the local authorities in Guyana are cash-strapped and highly dependent on central government, which the PPP/C controls, for support.

The PPP/C’s idea of local democracy is domination and control. Through the installation of IMCs, the PPP/C government hijacked local democracy. Yet, now Jagdeo wishes to pontificate as if the PPP/C is the saviour of local democracy.

Under the PPP/C, the real power over expenditure and administration in Regional Democratic Councils resides with Regional Executive Officers. It is not unknown for regional chairpersons to be emasculated from decisions concerning spending in regional democratic councils.

It was under the PPP/C that a former United States Ambassador was tongue-lashed by a PPP/C Minister. The Ambassador was berated simply because he called on the government to hold local government elections.

At the time, the PPP/C was reluctant to hold such elections. Allegations of corruption within the government were rife and the PPP/C was fearful that local government elections would expose a serious decline in national support and thus act as a referendum on the performance and popularity of its government.

Jagdeo is now gloating over the fact that the APNU will not contest in what he says are 24 local government areas. But he must recall that during the 2018 elections, the PPP/C did not contest in all local government areas.

The PPP/C is now enthusiastic about local government elections. This was not always the case, including under Jagdeo’s presidency.

The PPP/C’s agenda is not local democracy. It has outlined no plans to empower local democratic organs; the PPP/C is interested in gaining political capital from these elections and particular to further weaken the badly-divided PNCR.

The PPP/C knows that the PNCR under Aubrey Norton, like the PNC under Desmond Hoyte, is a divided house. And such divisions, as it did under Desmond Hoyte, always hurts the PNC at local government elections.

In the 1994 municipal elections in Georgetown, the PNC was defeated by the Good and Green Guyana party led by Hamilton Green. His supporters accused Hoyte of selling out the 1992 elections which saw the PNC booted out of office after 28 years.

It is only natural in politics for the PPP/C to want to capitalize on the divisions within the PNCR following the rebellion which led to the departure of David Granger as leader of the party. But in doing so, the PPP/C must pretend that it is serious about local democracy – it never was and never will be.

(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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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Champions, General Secretary, History, Neighbourhood

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