Four bills expected to pave the way for the holding of long overdue local government polls are still currently at the Select Committee stage and APNU MP Basil Williams, who heads that committee, is yet to call a meeting, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development (MLGRD) Ganga Persaud said yesterday.
However, even given this and the fact that there are no guarantees from the process, he is somewhat optimistic that the long-awaited local government elections may indeed be held in the coming year.
These remarks were made during the ministry’s end-of-year press conference, which also saw MLGRD Permanent Secretary Colin Croal, Minister within the MLGRD Norman Whittaker and the ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary making individual presentations on the ministry’s activities.
Responding to questions concerning the possibility of the elections being held in 2013, Persaud stated that as things stand currently, his ministry has taken every measure possible, as it relates to administrative responsibilities, to make provisions for the elections. However, ultimately, the power and decision to hold the elections do not rest with him. He referred to four bills read in Parliament since August this year, noting that they were not fully dealt with. Because of this, no progress could be made as regards setting a definite date for the elections. Persaud insisted, “This is the most that we can do as a ministry.
“The bills are at the level of the select committee and we are awaiting his [Williams’] call to convene the first committee meeting.”
Permanent Secretary Colin Croal, in his presentation, stated that despite numerous challenges faced in 2012, the ministry was still able to conclude the year having achieved the overwhelming majority of its goals.
Shedding light on the relatively successful status of the ministry’s capital programme, Croal said that to date regions 1 and 8 had completed 80% of their works; region 2, 90%, regions 3, 9 and 10, 95%; region 7, 97%, while regions 4, 5 and 6 were successful in the implementation of 100% of their projects. He said that overall, the figures show that the ministry was able to complete the full implementation of 94% of all capital projects.
As it relates to current projects, Croal said that regions 1 and 8 completed 80% of their works; Region 9 91%, Region 10, 92%, Region 2, 94%, Region 4, 97%, Region 7, 98% while regions 5 and 6 were able to complete 100% of their works. In this instance, Croal said that the combined figures show that 95% of all current projects had been implemented.
He said that a total of $282 million was made available for project development among the various Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities the ministry was charged with overseeing. There are currently 65 NDCs, each of which were given $3 million to execute their projects, and six municipalities, each of which were awarded $65 million for their individual projects.
In terms of the expenditure of their subventions, Croal said that of the work proposed by the NDCs in the various regions, Region 1 has completed 50%; regions 2 and 9, 95%; Region 10, 75%; regions 3 and 6, 83% and 85%, respectively; regions 5 and 7, 100% each, while Region 4 has only completed 65% of the works which were proposed and approved. He stated, however, that NDCs in Region 4 were expected to fully implement their projects within the first month of next year while work in Region 9 was timetabled to be completed within a week. He further explained that the non-completion of many of the projects were as a result of inclement weather.
Croal also said that the various municipalities were doing reasonably well with the implementation of their projects, and pointed out that Anna Regina, in particular, successfully implemented 100% of what it had proposed, while a combination of inclement weather and change of plans left Linden, George-town, Corriverton, New Amsterdam and Rose Hall with incomplete programmes. He said that overall, 75% of all municipal programmes had been implemented to date.
Croal said the Local Government Ministry also embarked on its Community Road Improvement Project (CRIP), and with the assistance of the Ministry of Housing and Water, has been able to develop systems through which RDCs and NDCs can exercise better road management and maintenance. In addition to this he said that from January, a “Trainer of Trainers Programme” will commence. The programme, he said, is aimed at improving the Information Technology (IT) competency of NDC staff as well as providing computers, printers, camera’s and work stations to NDCs, all in an effort to ensure that 12 NDCs in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six are fully computerised by the end of the first quarter in 2013. A total of $7 million has been set aside to facilitate these developments.
Croal also made mention of the ministry’s Caribbean Local Economic Develop-ment programme, which will introduce a unique approach to development by methods such as supporting and strengthening entrepreneurial endeavours at the local level. The programme is supported by a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and will focus on regions 1, 3, 5 and 6 before branching out to other regions.
Through this initiative, Croal says there are intentions to pursue a Youth Empower-ment, Inclusion and Recon-ciliation programme, which is aimed at enhancing the ministry’s capacity to address social cohesion, conflict, as well as the strengthening of public trust.
With the youths as their primary focus, Croal stated that plans have been made to work with them to develop the capacity of young leaders in various communities. The project, which is to be run over a period of two years will target youth from regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 at a cost of US$150,000.
He said 30 potential leaders have already been identified and will, from February of next year, be trained for a three-month period. Training will include ‘the Importance of Good Governance’ as well as talk on ‘Conflict Resolu-tion and Human Rights’. He also said that the ministry is considering Information Communication Technology (ICT), such as the use of social networks to reach the target group.
