Two contentious issues – the vast discretionary powers of the Minister of Local Government and Regional Executive Officers’ accountability to the ministry rather than the district they serve – will be among those that to be addressed when deliberations on long-awaited local government reform legislation begins when the National Assembly reconvenes in October.
Chairman of APNU, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine expressed optimism that the discussions could be completed “within eight weeks” of the House reconvening, since he said that a lot of work done by a Select Committee in the Ninth Parliament was incorporated into the Bills. In the past two weeks, four Bills, the Local Government Commission Bill 2012, the Local Government (Amendment Bill) 2012, the Fiscal Transfers Bill 2012 and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2012 were laid in the National Assembly and were immediately sent to a Select Committee for review. However since the House is in recess, the work will not begin until it reconvenes in October.
The Bills are part of a raft of reform legislation expected to lay the groundwork for overdue local government elections. The opposition has called for local government elections to be held as soon as possible with the enactment of reforms seen as key. Local government elections have been due since 1997.
Roopnaraine said that under the new legislation, it is envisioned that many of the powers now being exercised by the minister will be carried out by a Local Government Commission. With a view to the holding local government elections, it is critical that the legislation be dealt with as soon as possible, he said. “It is our intention to get it done as soon as possible,” he emphasized.
The Ministry of Local Government has in recent months stepped up the dissolving of Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) replacing them with Interim Management Committees (IMC) much to the chagrin of opposition parties and some communities. Roopnaraine pointed out that they have opposed this and have also raised the point that if an NDC is replaced with an IMC whether it would not be more seemly to have the replacements based on the political composition of the NDC. He said that the power of the minister to “impose” IMCs on districts is within the range of powers now being exercised by the minister that will be examined by the Select Committee.
REO’s reporting to the ministry instead of being accountable to the Regional Democratic Councils has also been an issue, and change will be sought in this regard. “We are totally against that,” Dr Roopnaraine said. He contended that REO’s are “used essentially to frustrate the RDC or bend the RDC to the will of central government.”
Dr Roopnaraine said that the vast powers now being exercised by the Minister will be examined with a view to transferring some of these to the Local Government Commission. He said that he does not see why the examination of the Bills cannot be completed within eight weeks of the National Assembly reconvening. “They have been on the table for far too long,” he said.
The legislation for local government reform has been long in the making. A bi-partisan Task Force on Local Government Reform, made up of representatives of the PPP/C and the PNCR, had worked for eight years on completing the reform legislation. However, in 2009 the government abandoned the process in favour of parliamentary review, which government hopes would see the holding of the polls.
All four bills were tabled in that same year and sent to select committee for a review, however, the process stalled after the opposition parties withdrew their participation, saying that the government was “inflexible” on proposed amendments.
The Local Government Commission Bill—which had been passed in the last parliament in the absence of the opposition but not assented to by then President Bharrat Jagdeo—is intended to set up the local Government Commission to deal with all matters related to regulation and staffing of local government organs and resolve disputes within and between such organs, in keeping with Article 78 (a) of the Constitution. The Commission’s specific functions include monitoring and reviewing the performance and the implementation of policies of local government organs.
Meanwhile, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, according to its explanatory memorandum, is intended to include NDCs in the local government system for all purposes and to make consequential amendments, including increases in penalties, in a number of areas.
The bill also gives the Legal Affairs Minister the power to prescribe fees payable for any process, including the process of parate execution, by order.
The Fiscal Transfers Bill 2012 seeks to give effect to article 77 (A) of the Constitution. The ultimate aim of the Bill is to make a local authority as autonomous as possible including its ability to sustain itself financially.
The Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2012 seeks to amend the Municipal and District Councils Act so as to revise the provisions pertaining to municipal councils.
The Bill seeks to update various fines, fees and charges in order to make them meaningful in view of current currency values and present day market prices for goods and services.
