At the press briefing on December 1 to announce the results of the 2011 national and regional elections, the chairman of Gecom mentioned that Gecom had been ready for the local government elections when they were postponed yet again by the government. Local government elections were last held in 1994.
A Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform, comprising members of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) was established in 2001 to draft legislation to overhaul the local government system. This task force was terminated eight years after it was first established.
The 2011 election manifestos of all three main political parties committed to local government democracy:
PPP/C – “In the area of local government and governance, the next PPP/C Government will ensure, within one year of the 2011 general elections, that local government elections are held, bringing much needed reinvigoration into local government entities.”
APNU – “At local government level, reintroducing village councils, retaining Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), and introducing constituency elections at the RDC, NDC and village levels, with a provision for individuals to contest those elections and for lower tiers to be represented at higher tiers.“
AFC – “Devolution of Powers – AFC will encourage the involvement of Guyanese to restore their neighbourhood and village government to the sequential levels of the decision making process: neighbourhood > village > sub-regional > municipal > regional. The AFC will ensure that this process occurs through the mandatory holding of local and municipal elections under the agreed Local Government Reform.”
Although not referenced by any party, local democracy is a right described in Chapter VII of the Guyana Constitution 1980/2003, Articles 71-78.
One of the tasks of the incoming government, and of a regenerated National Assembly, should be to promote such local government democracy and good governance.
This might involve new or reformed legislation and should certainly require Gecom to develop, test and refine standard operating procedures which incorporate lessons from the failures at the 2011 general election. Setting a firm date for such elections would be a good start and would give Gecom a stimulus for action.
Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan
