Stabroek News recently invited the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change to submit a weekly column on local government and related matters. The PPP has declined the offer. Only APNU has submitted a column this week.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration must stop the charade of evasive pronouncements and devious postures about local government elections. It took the Stabroek News’ editorial of April 21, 2014 – titled “It’s now time for local government elections” – to remind the PPP/C administration of its broken promises to the electorate to conduct local government elections. Indeed the PPP/C has shown itself to be impervious to the need to abide by the rules in relation to local democracy.
Norman Whittaker, PPP/C Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, is acquiring a reputation as a master of distortion and contortion. Speaking in the National Assembly on 15th March, 2012 during the debate on the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amend-ment) Bill 2012, Whittaker then Junior Minister, said: “…the PPP and the PPP/C government have always viewed … the need to have local government elections as important not only for development but also important for the renewal of grassroots democracy in our country. We want to hold local government elections. We want to hold local government elections today; tonight”!
The Minister went on to say in the very presentation “… that is why we have been agitating for these elections. That is why we keep bringing the legislation to the Assembly and that is why we have been continuously calling on the Opposition, haranguing them, to work with us to move the process on and we will continue to do so. We will not abdicate that