APNU MP Basil Williams yesterday said that the Special Select Committee on Local Government has completed consideration of the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill and is positioning itself to revisit other bills which had been “parked.”
The Special Select Committee was mandated to review four bills deemed instrumental for local government reform and the holding of long-delayed local government elections: the Local Government Commission Bill, the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill.
William, who chairs the committee, told Stabroek News that committee members resumed work last Friday after postponing the consideration of the bills in early April. He had told Stabroek News that the committee’s work had been placed on the back burner to facilitate the 2013 budget debate, but said that the meetings had gained traction and that they were making progress.
At the time the budget was presented, the committee was considering the details of the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, and Williams noted that there were still clauses, in the two other bills, the Fiscal Transfers Bill, and the Local Government Commission Bill, that had already been scrutinised as well as in the one that was at the time before the committee, that had been “parked” for subsequent re-examination.
In relation to the Fiscal Transfers Bill, Williams had explained that the bill had lacked a formula to achieve the prescribed results. As such, he said, two experts were engaged and they had both proposed a formula for consideration. The selection of this formula is important since it will influence the setting of objective criteria that would be applied to all Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) and Municipalities, with the exception of Georgetown, owing to its large population.
Williams said that to date a formula has been submitted by Vincent Alexander, Registrar of the University of Guyana.
In relation to the Local Government Commission Bill, he had said that the government members of the committee had proposed the implementation of an office of the Regional Executive Officer (REO) in every NDC, a move which was opposed by the combined opposition. He also said that if the opposition got their way on this matter the Local Government Minister would be required to cede several of the functions he currently carries out to the Local Government Commis-sion.
Williams said that the issues that remain are few but problematic, and could not say definitively if the committee would be finished in time to have local government elections this year. He did however say that to hold elections this year would be crucial, not just for the opposition, but Guyana in general.
