Mayor of New Amsterdam Claude Henry has joined the long list of persons, groups and organisations publicly calling for the holding of local government elections in Guyana.
Speaking at a thanksgiving service held recently to celebrate New Amsterdam’s 123rd anniversary as a municipality, Mayor Henry criticised the apparent reluctance of the government to hold what he referred to as “much needed elections.” He said the town council has not been fully functional for many years now owing to the elections not being held. The mayor explained that at present, the town council is operating with a mere fraction of its required staff and opined that the holding of local government elections would see new blood and life being pumped into the council.
“Our council is depleted to half of its required amount, and it is for those and other reasons that we are saying, we need to
have local government elections,” Henry stated, adding that this will see the council benefiting from a “new breed of people, persons who are not tired. We can have persons who are prepared to move this town forward.”
The mayor noted that during the 123 years as a municipality, New Amsterdam has had 63 mayors, and he had “hoped that we also would have had deputy mayors and councillors being changed” on a regular basis, but this has not been the case, to the detriment of the town.
While declaring that New Amsterdam will not fall because it has a council of “responsible staff and persons within the community, be it businesspersons or residents who are willing to ensure that this community develops,” Henry admitted that “at the moment things are declining” as the council is constantly faced with challenges especially from external forces. “We are having many issues here: we are having ministerial orders that are not in keeping with 28:01; just like Georgetown and other councils but we at our level, are trying to work within the ambit of the law and to do what we are expected to do.”
The mayor was adamant it would take the holding of local government elections for the town to move from its “glorious past to a promising future.
“We all had a vision and have a vision for this township. I know we can do better. Nothing tells me we cannot do better. We need to put our best foot forward to ensure that we move this town forward, but we can only truly attempt to do so if and when local government elections are held.”
While there has been an increase in persons calling for the holding of local government elections, the calls seem to be falling on deaf ears, as the government has given no indication of its willingness to hold said elections anytime soon.
On Tuesday, Opposition Leader David Granger called on President Donald Ramotar to name a date by Monday (September 15) otherwise national and international support would be galvanised in defence of democracy. The President is yet to respond.
The law requires that local government elections be held every three years, it was last held two decades ago in 1994.
