The Local Government Ministry has been fitted with its very own Legal Department which will enable it to better enforce bylaws and clear the plethora of back-logged legal matters it is confronted with.
At the ministry’s end-of–year press conference yesterday Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud said the step was informed by two main factors.
The fines attached to breaching the ministry’s bylaws, he said, were unrealistic and a more stringent solution was required, and he also said that there has been a lack of technical support provided to local government organs with regard to the adherence with the bylaws which govern regional democratic organs.
He said that though each local organ is fitted with officers who have been assisting with technical support as it relates to adherence to bylaws, some of the work which needed to be done was beyond them as it required personnel versed in law. The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Collin Croal explained that the new department will comprise a Legal Clerk and a Legal Officer, both of whom will be pursuing the ministry’s many outstanding matters.
This responsibility was once carried out by the Chambers of the Attorney General. Persaud said though, that the AG’s Chambers has been quite taxed lately, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall had recommended that the local government ministry move to install its own legal office to deal with its matters.
The government has also given approval for the ministry to have an Internal Audit Department which it expects will correct the deficiencies in its financial systems, thereby reducing the amount of discrepancies documented by the Auditor General’s Office each year. This is definitely a welcome development for the ministry as it is also likely to be used to improve the financial systems of the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) which fall under it.
It is not at all strange to sit in on a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting where RDC representatives are lectured for the ill-care with which they treat their finances. Croal, who usually sits with the respective Regional Executive Officers during these meetings, has constantly been asked by the committee what measures are being pursued to correct the problem.
The positions in the Internal Audit Department not been filled though, Croal said. He explained that the life of the Public Service Commission (PSC), which must confirm the employees intended for the department, has expired, and that a new one must be appointed before the department is staffed.
In the meantime though, Croal said, the ministry has already accepted applications, and has carried out interviews which have led to the shortlisting of several prospective employees for the newly created positions. The shortlisted names will be handed to the new PSC once it is appointed.
