New mayors, councillors, councils

Jul 13, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – The celebrations over Local Government Elections about who did very well, and who held the line in their own strongholds, are almost over. Now the tough tasks, the many difficult challenges, of caring for communities in the towns, the country areas, and the remote hinterland communities, must begin in full swing. There are some new faces in leadership roles, there is talk of new visions and new approaches. Nothing different should be expected from those who breathe politics, live for it, are made into big men and women by it. As they move forward to take up their duties, we wish them the best, hoping for differences that enhance the quality of communities, lift the spirit of citizens.

Whether PPPC or APNU councilor, they should need no reminder that their first calling, their only cause, is that of the constituencies that put them where they are. They all have a duty to be there as listener, worker, and helper for all citizens. In view of what happened recently, they must be the eyes and ears vigilantly attuned to the sights and soundings coming out of their communities signaling that something is amiss. This has particular relevance for hinterland communities, whose residents have been preyed upon, taken advantage of, and exploited and damaged. Mayors and councilors must fight to protect the dignity of their people; they must not be among the stalkers and predators. The communities have to emerge from the ashes of recent horrors and be possessed of the strength and mind to draw the widest attention to their plights, the conditions in which they exist, to which they are sometimes condemned.

Lots of things, vitally necessary things, are amiss across Guyana at the local level. Citizens have solid ideas of who are the corrupt ones that sit on local democratic organs. They know those who have gained nasty reputations for shaking down citizens, or delivering shoddy works for the huge amounts spent on different infrastructure projects. They are familiar with the arrogant ones, for whom power has gone to their heads, to the point that they feel they can walk all over citizens who put them in power. The record has also been of those suspected of not voting for them or their party, or having secretly loyal to an opposing political group, being punished through neglect or squeezes applied in any number of subtle, sometimes, blatant, ways. If Guyanese are ever going to go anywhere, the new mayors and councilor that are beginning their terms of office must say and be about what deals with the needs and concerns of all within their spheres of influence, their radius of operations.

Among the pressing areas that have been calling for attention are consistent garbage collection, clearing of drains, fixing damaged roads (especially high traffic ones), security in and around marketplaces, and the ever-present flooding woes that make life miserable for residents, commuters, and workers. The PPPC Government has made it a practice to run what could be called parallel councils through the Ministry of Local Government in a few of the areas that it does not control, with the capital city, Georgetown a standout example, by initiating projects that falls directly under municipal purview. Corruption and incompetence have been offered as rationales for interventions, while the councils so undermined see such ongoing efforts as wooing voters away, and thwarting the will of the people.

Regardless of which side has it right, there is the fact that two out of three eligible voters stayed away from the Local Government polls. It could be spun in many ways, but what resonates is that voters are frankly fed-up with how politics has infiltrated every aspect of life, and taken it over for the worst. Residents want to see the main political parties working together, so that they can experience the difference in their lives. They want to see real movement, and not convenient political fixes that have less to do with citizen welfare, and more to do with public relations and political schemes. As the new people begin their work, the hope is that the old will remain in the past, and a new way forward is carved out shoulder to shoulder.

councillors, councils, Editorial, Government, mayors

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