Corbin told this newspaper on Friday that among the main areas of concern for his party, were the involvement of all parliamentary parties in the reform process and the avoidance of grandstanding on the part of the government.
Meanwhile, during a press conference on Friday at Congress Place, Corbin said his meetings with the President were basically in fulfillment of an earlier discussion they had at the time the elections were rescheduled to facilitate the completion of reforms before the holding of local government elections.
Corbin said that at the time the government agreed to the demands of the joint opposition parties to make a last ditch attempt at local government reform, they were supposed to have another meeting to determine the modalities of how this would be done. He said this meeting was delayed because both he (Corbin) and the President were out of the country for a while.
The PNCR Leader said since he has concluded deliberations with the President, the government would move to reconvene the special select committee shortly.
Stabroek News, meanwhile, was reliably informed that the government has advised donors against releasing funds for local government election programmes, while work on crucial legislative reforms is still to be completed. The government has asked the donors to withhold funding until it gives the go-ahead for the long-awaited polls.
Local government elections have been due since 1997. The Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform was set up in 2001 by agreement between President Jagdeo and then opposition leader Desmond Hoyte. The task force, made up of representatives of the PPP/C and the PNCR, had initially been given a one-year mandate for the completion of local government reforms but it has been reconstituted at least twice since then to complete the process.
