Breach of Article 75 of the Guyana Constitution by the Parliament of Guyana

Jan 01, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Please allow me the space in your papers to send an open letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly and the citizens of Guyana.

Mr. Speaker, I am forced by necessity to write you and the citizens of Guyana, about the violation of Article 75 of the Guyana Constitution by the Parliament of Guyana when they were making the Fiscal Transfer Act 25 of 2009.

Mr. Speaker, the architect of Bill 25 of 2009 deliberately inserted in the bill section 3 (2) (i) which gives the subject Minister of Local Government the power to decide if a Local Democratic Organ should or should not apply for grants from any donor agencies, by causing the councils to seek approval from the Minister, in my opinion, this was done to prevent the councils from being financially independent and to be solely depending on the central government for their finance.

Section 3 (2) (i) stated

(2) a local democratic organ _

With the prior written approval of the Minister, such approval must not be unreasonably withheld and such approval or disapproval must be given within thirty-five days, approach donor agencies for finance and other resource which may be used to fund capital projects or employment costs;

Mr. Speaker this is what Article 75 of the Guyana Constitution orders parliament to do.

Parliament shall provide that local democratic organs shall be autonomous and take decisions that are binding upon their agencies and institutions and their communities and citizens of their areas.

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to find in the Guyana constitution which article gives the Minister of Local Government the power over the elected local democratic organs to approve what they have to do, and cannot find any.

Mr. Speaker, while we all know that the Guyana Constitution provided for an Executive President and for the President to appoint his Ministers whom he can dismiss or order at any time, that power that he holds as an Executive President can only be exercised over his Ministers, not over the elected local democratic organs, the Constitution clearly state that, so for Parliament to make laws or to allow old laws in place which are inconsistent with the present constitution, then, the Parliament is in itself, violating the Constitution of Guyana.

Mr. Speaker, the Constitution of Guyana has decentralized the power of the state when it established the 10 Regional Democratic Councils, the regional systems of governance, and its lower tier Local. Democratic Organs, those organs have been empowered to be autonomous after the amendments of the constitution between 1998 and 2001, so for, any minister to hold any authority over the elected local government authority area is unconstitutional.

Mr. Speaker, it seems like the government and members of parliament do not understand the systems of governance that are set out in the constitution of Guyana or that they just do not care about any systems, at present Central Government is doing thousands of local government authorities duties, this is because proper financial systems are not in place for local government authority garner revenue through taxes, licenses, apply for grants, or for, a just fiscal transfer of money from central government.

Central Government continues to usurp the authority of councils through financial starvation policies and then complains that the councils are not functioning, when them is the masterminds, causing most of the councils to be ineffective, such behaviour needs to change to a more progressive mentality attitude for the implementation of the decentralization of the power of the state.

Regards,

Michael Carrington

People’s Development Movement

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Constitution, Fiscal Transfer Act 25 of 2009, Michael Carrington, Parliament of Guyana, People's Development Movement

Latest News