Dear Editor,
The letter from Mr Earl B John titled, ‘What progress has been made on the recommendations of the 2008-09 Commission Inquiry into the performance of the city council?’ (SN, April 24). Apart from the dismissal of some senior officers, not much has happened.
We can add, what of the Liburd Report on the Engineer’s Department, the Sandra Jones Report, Professors Khan’s Report, the Lynch Report, et al?
My conclusion is this: the state has no interest in allowing the duly elected Mayor and City Council to exercise real authority. When elections were held, with all of the money spent and its propaganda machine in gear, the PPP only secured eight of the thirty seats in Georgetown.
Citizens took into account my record of getting things done ‒ the sobriquet ‘Action Green’ was not attached to the Mayor by accident. After my first term, the government set out to make the duly elected Mayor and City Council a failure. When we found venal officers it was ‘all hell’ to have them removed. The current situation is a mere sample. Over time many other examples were given.
The Mayor and Councillors can do their best, but in the present arrangement the administration decides if it will cooperate with the council or not. For years we have been asking for a restructuring of staff; it is clear that the administration has no interest in this. Years ago, we had established and trained a Warden Corps to be the link between us and the communities. This was seen as a way to expose the inappropriate behaviour of some officers, so the administration cleverly broke up this body.
Examples are numerous, save to say, the answer lies in a reformed local government system where duly elected officials ‒ Mayors etc, ‒ will be allowed to execute plans and programmes with citizens’ participation and without the undue interference of ‘Big Brother.’
It is evident that the PPP government has no real interest in a modern, upgraded local government system; just take a look at their 2011 Election Manifesto: much space is allocated to the many areas of governance ‒ Keeping our Nation Healthy, Labour, Responsive Public Administration, Amerindian and Hinterland Development, Housing, Delivering Security, Safety and Justice for all, Water and Sanitization for all, Modernizing and Diversifying the Productive Sector, etc, but for Local Government, there is a quarter page.
They had also promised that within a year of the general elections, local government elections would be held, but is seems that emphasis is being placed on strengthening the capacity for the ministry responsible for local government. Not a word about local government reform. We need to find ways to bring them to realize that the essence of a vibrant democracy is a vibrant local government, where elected leaders are not emasculated by obnoxious, government-supported officers, some foolish fellows or narcoleptics at the Ministry of Local Government.
Mr John is on target; the people must put pressure on the PPP to accept a reformed, not adjusted local government, for how else can they trumpet a return to democracy?
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
Mayor