Region 10 Locked Out

Dec 01, 2025 Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – The President Irfaan Ali administration has once again made a public spectacle of its selective interpretation of democracy. On Wednesday, President Ali confidently swore in chairpersons and vice chairpersons for every Regional Democratic Council (RDC) across the country except Region 10. With straight face and ceremony, the government celebrated democratic renewal everywhere else while Region 10, a long-standing stronghold of political independence, remains deliberately trapped in bureaucratic purgatory. This is no accident. It is a calculated manoeuvre.

Kaieteur News has been following this issue and the pattern has become unmistakable: when the government cannot control a process, it simply refuses to complete it. That is precisely what is playing out in Region 10, where the Regional Executive Officer (REO), operating as an arm of central government, has refused to reconvene the statutory meeting to elect the RDC’s chair and vice chair even though the law demands it and even though the region has already held its first attempt.

At that earlier meeting, there was a tie for the position of Chair. The Local Government Act is unambiguous on what must happen next: the tie must be broken through a second meeting and, if necessary, a prescribed lawful mechanism. But instead of following the law, the REO packed up his papers, walked out, and has since behaved as though the people of Region 10 must sit quietly until the government decides whether their votes matter.

This newspaper has repeatedly warned that government control of statutory offices through handpicked REOs, politicised boards, and strategically targeted administrative delays has become one of the PPP/C’s most effective tools for undermining local democracy. Region 10 now stands as the clearest example of this creeping centralisation. Yet what makes this episode even more troubling is the political silence surrounding it. Region 10 has historically been a fortress of the People’s National Congress (PNC), but the party has offered little more than lukewarm statements and soft press releases. The very region that once took to the streets at the slightest hint of constitutional abuse now finds itself waiting, heads bowed, while central government locks its democratic door.

The target of this humiliation? Not the people, at least not officially but the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, which shocked the establishment by performing strongly in Region 10. The government’s disdain for WIN and its leader is open, loud, and now weaponised through state machinery. It is no coincidence that the only region where the government is refusing to complete the lawful electoral process is the region where WIN holds influence.

Make no mistake: this is political punishment disguised as administrative delay. This newspaper previously editorialised that the government’s handling of the Region 10 RDC process mirrors its “barefaced constitutional contortions” over the election of the Leader of the Opposition where the administration stretched legal language to breaking point simply to avoid accountability. Region 10 is now witnessing a replay of that same contempt. The message is unmistakable: if the PPP/C cannot control the outcome, it will control the process; if it cannot control the process, it will prevent the process from happening.

Meanwhile, the President proceeds with the swearing-in of every other RDC chair and vice chair, smiling before cameras, while Region 10 is left leaderless—an orphan of the state.

But Region 10 is not powerless. And it must not behave as if it is. Democracy is not merely a constitutional word; it is a civic obligation. When the state refuses to honour its responsibilities, the people must insist that it does. Region 10 must demand loudly, consistently, and unapologetically

that the REO reconvene the meeting. The region must make it clear that Guyanese law, not government preference, governs the RDC. As for WIN, it cannot afford to retreat into polite press releases. The party now sits at a historic crossroads. It won votes; it earned seats; it legally qualified to contend for the chairmanship. If the government is blocking the lawful convening of the RDC, then WIN must escalate its advocacy. That does not mean chaos, it means lawful, organised, sustained pressure: public demonstrations, legal challenges, community mobilisation, and national exposure.

If WIN backs down now, it will signal to the government that small parties can be bullied into irrelevance. If it stands firm, it will send a message far beyond Region 10: the constitution is not a tool of government convenience. Kaieteur News has long argued that Guyana’s democracy survives only when citizens defend it. Region 10 is now being tested. The government’s actions are not simply political; they are constitutional violations. And constitutional violations cannot be met with silence. The people of Region 10 deserve their chair, their vice chair, and their democratic dignity. Anything less is lawlessness, no matter how presidential the ceremony looked last week.

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• Editorial, Irfaan Ali, Locked Out, Region 10, Regional Democratic Council

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