The main opposition PNCR-1G and the Guyana Action Party/Rise Organise and Rebuild-Guyana Movement (GAP-ROAR) are urging government to aim for consensus on legislative reforms before local government polls are run off later this year.
In a letter to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is the leader of Government business in the National Assembly, PNCR-1G Leader Robert Corbin and GAP/ROAR MP Everall Franklin expressed concern about attempts to scuttle the reform process and called on the government to table all the bills that were the subject of discussions by the now dismantled Local Government Reform Task Force. “We have stated publicly that the issues remaining to be resolved, in the [draft legislation], can be expeditiously resolved, in time for the holding of Local Government Elections, before the end of 2009, if there is political will and good faith, on the part of the government, to do so,” they said in the letter, dated June 1, 2009, and copied to Speaker of the House Ralph Ramkarran and Clerk of the Assembly Sherlock Isaacs. The other parliamentary opposition party, the AFC, was not a signatory although Stabroek News understands it agreed in principle with its contents.
The two opposition parties also emphasised the need for launching a comprehensive public education programme to ensure the electorate is fully informed of the new system it would be voting under as well as the need for agreement on the new Constituency Boundaries which would have to be drawn under the direction of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). In both instances, they said there was only silence by the government.
Stabroek News attempted to contact Prime Minister Hinds on the letter but was unsuccessful.
Corbin and Franklin affirmed their commitment to the holding of polls under a reformed local government system when consensus is reached on the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2009, the Fiscal Transfers Bill 2009, the Local Government Commission Bill 2007 and the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2005. The Task Force had spent eight years working on the legislative reforms but only completed work on the Local Authorities and Fiscal Transfers bills before it was dismantled. Corbin and Franklin said they were “not encouraged” by the government’s action in unilaterally halting the work of the task force in April, adding afterward there was no consultation or communication between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Leader Corbin on any of the issues.
The Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2009 was presented in the National Assembly last week and immediately sent to a special select committee for a three-week review. The opposition parties dubbed the move “high-handed,” “unilateral” and “unexplained,” adding that the absence of the other bills and the arbitrary timeline for the work of the select committee “suggests that the Government is continuing its efforts to scuttle the Local Government Reform process.” As a result, they also wrote to Ramkarran, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Committee of Selection, seeking a postponement of a meeting to name members to the select committee that would be reviewing the bill. The meeting was subsequently called off.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon said last Thursday that in the face of the delay in the conclusion of promised bilateral talks between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Corbin, the Cabinet agreed to the immediate tabling of the bill and for it to be sent to a parliamentary select committee for wider consideration. He said the Cabinet also agreed on the subsequent tabling of other bills but could not say whether all would be placed before the Parliament before the polls.
However, Corbin, who had been hospitalised between the end of April and the start of May, said up to the time of his illness no attempt was made to begin consultations on the reforms.