His announcement came after recent campaigning by the parliamentary opposition parties for the completion of agreed legislative reforms, as required under the Constitution. “I have discussed this with the People’s Progressive Party and they have very reluctantly agreed that we should make one last ditch attempt to resolve the issues raised by the opposition,” Jagdeo told reporters, during an impromptu briefing. He added, “We want to set a climate where we go into [general] elections in 2011 with very little controversy, so we are going to be engaging again, I think, through the parliamentary process to see if we can resolve the outstanding issues surrounding the other bits of legislation that were tabled in parliament.”
It was his first public statement on local government elections after a recent meeting with Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, who has led the call for agreed legislative reforms to be implemented before the polls are run off. The AFC has said that its participation in the polls would depend on the implementation of the reforms.
Jagdeo, who did not indicate a timetable for the process, said the date for the polls would be determined after the outstanding issues are resolved. However, he did reiterate that the government has sought to reach “accommodation” over the years, noting the work of the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform. He added that it was the failure to reach agreement that precipitated the move to pass the law for the conduct of the elections, while at the same time working on the remaining legislation at the parliamentary level. Jagdeo was referring to the amendment to the Local Authorities (Elections) Act that was passed last year to enable a new electoral system. The remaining legislation still before select committee in parliament are the Fiscal Transfers, the Local Government (Amendment) and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) bills. Both the PNCR and the AFC have withheld their participation from the select committee, following a disagreement with the ruling party about the order in which the bills would be examined. “People tend to blame the government of Guyana if you don’t have elections,” Jagdeo noted yesterday, before later adding, “We are ready. We don’t want any further delay.”
‘Political will’
Meanwhile, PNCR leader Corbin yesterday said the main opposition remains committed to the reform process, but he emphasised that “political will” is needed to ensure that the new laws are true to previous agreements. At the party’s weekly briefing at Congress Place, Corbin said the PNCR is prepared to contest the polls once the reforms are in the place. He, however, warned that the party would not be part of a process that would undermine the agreements reached by the political parties at the level of the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform. “What you need is the political will to faithfully replicate the recommendations of the Task Force…,” he explained. “What you want is the political will to give power to the people. To devolve power from the minister to the people, so that they can make decisions and that seems to be a hard concession to make and that is real the problem,” Corbin added, stating that the polls could have been held already if the reform process had been completed.
He also explained that the opposition disengaged from the work of the select committee when it appeared that the government would “railroad” the remaining legislation although it does not represent the recommendations of the Joint Task Force. According to him, there was a lot of “fancy footwork” to avoid a faithful attempt to transfer the Task Force’s recommendations into the law. In this regard, he said the PNCR refused to be “innocent non-partisan bystanders” in a flawed exercise. He pointed to the passage of the amendment of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act and the Local Government Commission Bill, although it had been the understanding of the opposition parties that the laws would have been passed as part of the entire suite of reform legislation.
The Local Government Commission Bill has been a lightning rod for opposition criticism, since the current provisions essentially give the government sole responsibility for its composition. Corbin pointed out that despite government’s haste to pass the bill President Jagdeo has still not assented to it. He refused to comment on whether the reforms could be completed for the holding of elections this year, saying that the answer rests entirely on political will to properly conclude the process. Corbin was, however, adamant that the issues associated with the local government reform should not affect next year’s general elections. “…Nothing must result in the extension of the term limit of the present administration beyond the five years,” he said.
On Wednesday, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally urged the “early” settlement of local government reform, in order to allow preparations for the long-delayed elections to proceed without any impediments. Saying that GECOM should not be blamed for any delay in the holding of the polls, Surujbally wrote to Corbin and informed that while the recent developments about the legal reforms cannot be ignored, further delay would result in expenditure the commission cannot currently afford. “While we stand resolutely by our deliberate decision to prepare for the conduct of local government elections, we must acknowledge that it is not up to the commission to decide if and when this will be done,” he explained, adding that GECOM is also conscious of its “greater national responsibility” to ensure due compliance with the Constitution. “It is in this regard that we urge that the relevant stakeholders arrive at an early settlement and clear the way for GECOM to proceed with its work without impediment,” Surujbally emphasised. The letter was a response to Corbin, who had earlier urged him to ensure that the elections are not held without legislative reforms required under the Constitution.
Corbin yesterday said he was studying the contents and would make a fuller response at a later time. However, he said he hoped the letter would serve as the “modus vivendi” for the “serious approach” to the timetable and “serious implementation” of local government reform.
