Refusing to budge from the call for local government polls to be held under a reformed system, the opposition has withheld participation in the parliamentary review of legislative reforms, in a bid to ensure government upholds its commitment to table all of the proposed laws.
The government yesterday announced that it would table the two outstanding bills at today’s parliamentary sitting, while reiterating that with continued support the long-delayed polls could be held this year.
When the National Assembly’s Committee of Selection met last Thursday, the PNCR refused to name nominees for the Special Select Committee that was supposed to be set up to examine the legislative reforms, on the basis that the government had yet to fulfil its stated commitment to introducing all reform legislation. The AFC, meanwhile, has selected a nominee for the committee but the party yesterday indicated that it would withhold participation in any deliberations until all the bills are tabled for an examination en bloc.
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin told Stabroek News yesterday that the party would participate in the committee when all the bills are tabled, emphasising that all parties had committed to implementing reforms before polls in the agreement signed to initiate the national house to house registration exercise in 2007. “Our position is [that] we will wait and see and if the bills are presented in parliament, then the party will have a different approach,” he explained. Meanwhile, AFC leader Raphael Trotman yesterday dismissed the suggestion that the concerns being voiced by the opposition might reflect that it is unprepared to contest the polls. “The AFC is ready, willing and able to participate in any local government elections… under a reformed system,” Trotman declared, adding “We are ready to go but we want to make sure we are not participating in a futile, academic exercise just to exchange the current lot with another group and there is no real and meaningful change to the way the system functions.”
Last week, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had indicated that all reform legislation would be tabled in the Assembly for review and he assured that the administration would pursue consensus at all levels to secure enactment before the parliamentary recess. However, Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall has so far only tabled three bills – the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill 2009, the Local Government Commission Bill 2009 and the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2009, which have all been referred for consideration by the special select committee following their first readings.
Luncheon announced yesterday that the two remaining bills, the Fiscal Transfers Bill 2009 and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2009, would be tabled at next sitting. All the Bills had been the subject of deliberations by a Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform, which was dismantled earlier this year after working eight years to complete the reforms. The Task Force only reached consensus on the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill and the Fiscal Transfer Bill before it was abandoned in favour of a parliamentary review.
Luncheon expressed astonishment yesterday at the fact that the government’s commitment to table the bills was “insufficient” to encourage the main opposition to participate in the Select Committee. He accused the PNCR of “boycotting” the Committee of Selection meeting, despite a written offer by Prime Minister Sam Hinds to meet the demands outlined by two of the three parliamentary opposition parties, the PNCR-1G and GAP/ROAR in a letter to him. Luncheon said that the Government had put in writing a commitment that they would go to parliament with these bills and that they would be placed before one select committee. According to him, this was essentially what the opposition had been asking for. “The fact that the written, oral commitments and the consistency with which the commitment was maintained was not enough to overcome the sceptics in the ranks of the opposition PNCR is a matter for concern,” Luncheon said.
He added that despite the PNCR’s decision to neglect to name its nominees, the government considered that the select committee has been “properly constituted” and he stressed that it is anticipated that it would function within the defined timeline for the polls.
But Corbin explained that the PNCR had sought a postponement of the Committee of Selection meeting prior to last Thursday’s sitting, noting that at the time the opposition parties had still not received a response to their letter to the Prime Minister. He noted that the government went ahead with the meeting anyway and he subsequently received a letter indicating that all the bills would be tabled. “When all the bills are tabled we will participate in the Committee of Selection,” he told Stabroek News.
Despite the PNCR’s position as well as the concerns that all the bills had not been tabled, the first meeting of the special select committee was scheduled for Tuesday to elect a Chairperson. The PPP/C nominated Minister Lall, and MPs Gail Teixeira, Donald Ramotar, Bibi Shadick, Neil Kumar and Manzoor Nadir to serve on the committee. The AFC nominated MP David Patterson.
Subsequently refused
Patterson subsequently refused to participate in the meeting, in keeping with his own party’s position that all the bills are to be tabled in the National Assembly and examined en bloc by the committee. “The Government has committed to the tabling of the two outstanding bills by June 10, 2009, [but] the most recent Order Paper reflects no such Bills, while acknowledging that same can be done via a Supplementary Order Paper before the next sitting, we consider it premature to hold a Select Committee Meeting before the fulfilment of their self imposed obligations,” he said in a letter sent to the Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Issacs, which was seen by Stabroek News. Further, Patterson noted that since local governance is an important national issue, his preference is for a full complement of government and opposition members to be in attendance to ensure meaningful and encompassing discussions.
Patterson told reporters at a news conference yesterday that once all the bills are tabled, the AFC would participate in the deliberations of the select committee. He noted that the party had received information that the government intends to have the committee review the Local Authorities Bill in order to ensure its passage before the completion of the review of the other bills. “The Government is using the guise that GECOM requires the enactment of this Act to continue preparation of Local Government Elections,” he said, adding, “We however shall not be swayed, since Local Government Elections without the associated local government reforms will result in a reversion to the unacceptable status quo –well meaning elected citizens without the tools to properly control and execute their mandate.”
Patterson also reiterated that if polls are held without all the necessary reforms, it would be a meaningless process where new persons are selected for an old status quo. “We are looking at democracy as the whole package of local government-giving the people the right to administer their affairs in their communities,” he noted.
Meanwhile, addressing the completion of the national registration process with the holding of Claims and Objections and the issuance of new national ID cards, Patterson said GECOM is already “wholly behind schedule” on the activities. He added that the party hopes that in its haste to prepare for polls, none of the activities are severely abbreviated, particularly since the 2007 house-to-house registration exercise would be the last in the country’s history as it would be replaced with continuous registration. “Getting a creditable and acceptable national registration list is as important as running off local government elections,” he said.
However, Stabroek News was later told by a source involved in the activities that GECOM is continuing to work towards preparation for holding polls by a November 30, deadline, as set out in its current project plan.
