AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan believes local government elections are possible this year and has urged the fast-tracking of the examination of four crucial bills so that elections could be held by November.
He said the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) budget for 2013 was not cut because they are cognisant of this need. “We want Gecom to be fully financed and prepared for local government elections,” he told Stabroek News on Sunday.
The Local Government Commission Bill, the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill, which were deemed instrumental for local government reform and the holding of long-delayed local government elections, are being examined by a parliamentary Special Select Committee. Earlier this month, several members had reported that the work of the Committee is progressing steadily despite disagreements. Chairman of the committee, Basil Williams had said that they are considering the third of the four bills they have been mandated to examine.
Ramjattan said the AFC hopes the committee will fast-track the Bills, reach agreement on the contentious issues and hopefully wrap up the work by July and send the Bills back to the House. By November, local government elections should be held under the new regime, he said.
The AFC leader was “pretty confident” that the elections could be held this year unless government baulks on some of the contentious issues and hold up the process. “We feel that we have to work our way around those contentious issues…,” he said urging that all need to comprise in the interest of having the polls. “Half a loaf will be better than none,” he said.
The last local government elections were held in 1994. Earlier this year, the four key western missions in Guyana called for the holding of local government elections, saying that there is no valid justification for further delay, which they said is responsible for a persistent drag on Guyana’s national development.
“Given the important and pressing need for effective local governance, we believe that 2013 should be a watershed moment for the people of Guyana — the year they can once again democratically elect their local government,” said the statement signed by US ambassador D Brent Hardt, European Union ambassador Robert Kopecky, High Commissioner of the United Kingdom Andrew Ayre, and High Commissioner of Canada David Devine.
The government has blamed a number of factors for the non-holding of local government elections but critics have argued that it has been in charge of the process and it was always within its ability to hold the elections.
