| … as house agrees to postpone Local Govt. elections againBy Gary EleazarDespite staunch opposition and attempts to amend a proposed amendment to the Local Authorities (Election) Amendment Bill, the government with its parliamentary majority prevailed 29 to 22 to allow the Minister of Local Government Khellawan Lall to order the holding of elections of Mayor, Deputy Mayor, municipal Chairman or Deputy Chairman at any time.The amendment was tabled after yesterday’s session, thus making it a breach of the National Assembly’s Standing Orders, but was allowed through the indulgence of Speaker Ralph Ramkarran of the House only after leader of the People’s National Congress Reform, Robert Corbin, was assured that he would be able to propose amendments to the amendment.After failing to achieve his (Corbin’s) goal a division of the House was called twice, with everyone present voting except former Attorney General Bernard De Santos, who has abstained from voting both times a division was called.The amendment to the proposed Bill reads: “The Minister may on request of a local democratic organ or on his instructions authorise the holding of elections at any time for a Mayor,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/S-lab-fellcross-2/, Deputy Mayor or a Chairman or a Deputy Chairman of a local democratic organ.”Corbin unsuccessfully sought to have the role of the Minister deleted from the amendment, calling it ministerial dictatorship over the Local Government organs.According to Corbin, there were already provisions in the law that caters for annual elections, but according to Lall at times there would be no quorum for an election to be made possible.According to Khemraj Ramjattan, Chairman of the Alliance for Change, the Amendment to have the Minister instruct the holding of elections was very suspicious especially at “this late hour after 12 years of deferring local Government Elections.”He questioned what the defect was in the existing laws necessitating that authority to be vested in the Minister. “Why is it that the Minister wants to get involved if he says that he wants to see elections as early as possible?”Local Govt. elections postponed againThe Local Authorities (Election) Amendment Bill was also again amended to facilitate the postponement of the Local Government elections to a date no later than December 31, 2009 by Lall, who said that it was a sad situation adding to the difficulty currently being experienced by the local government organs.Some of the problems that Lall pointed to were the fact that some municipalities were not functioning or were not hosting meetings due to a lack of quorum. He addedthat there was a desperate need for the infusion of “new blood” and a rejuvenated approach.He noted that the present situation has led to ineffective monitoring which has resulted in the accumulation of water in the city.“Flooding was exacerbated due to neglect and inappropriate dumping of garbage,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Nike-roshe-one-world-cup-germany/,” said Lall, while adding that many persons were using the council for political posturing and “there is no evidence of management of municipalities.”Blame GameApart from the regular heckling,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Xt-hornet/, speakers making presentations engaged in what can only be classified as the blame game, with each speaker blaming the opposite side of the floor for the now 12-year delay in the hosting of Local Government elections.The election is slated for every three years, with the most recent being hosted in 1994.Basil Williams,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Jordan-cdp/, the first opposition speaker to take the floor, pointed to several delays in the work of the local government task force, with one such lasting for as long as three years.He noted that the work by the task force in recent times has been unilaterally stymied by the government’s co-chairman Clinton Collymore. The body received its remit of local government reform ever since 2001, he added.Among the remits, according to Williams, is the empowering of communities while removing the ministerial hand by establishing a local government commission.According to Williams,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/S-lab-5-xt-wings/, this was the reason why the government did not want the reforms to be implemented.This perception was debunked as untrue by the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Donald Ramotar, who said that his party was willing to have the elections hosted today.According to Ramotar, the PNCR had boycotted the Joint Commission.He adamantly pointed out that,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Gel-respector/, if the PNCR was sincere in its desire to have the elections hosted as soon as possible,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Jordan-11/, then the party should agree to have the Electoral Bill taken to the house so that it could be debated and passed, thus enabling the Guyana Elections Commission to have a head start “with issues such as the demarcation of boundaries.”“We have nothing to gain by delaying local government elections…It is a fundamental part of democracy.”According to Corbin, who was responding to a heckle suggesting that the elections be held and the reforms be worked out in the coming years, “it would unconstitutional for the elections to be held without the reforms.”He noted that it was suspicious that,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Ua-stephen-curry-two/, coming on the heels of utterance by the President to hastily host the elections, that the Minister would make a statement reminiscent of that.He sought to offer what he said was a word of advice to the government in that it should forget about the idea of hosting the elections without the local government reforms,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Nike-roshe-one-br/, adamant that it would never be allowed to happen. |
