President Donald Ramotar’s charade in relation to discharging his constitutional obligation to hold local government elections (LGE) continues. There is no justification for not having the elections which are now overdue by seventeen years and the Donald Ramotar administration is in breach of the Constitution for this failure.
These elections are, therefore, mandatory and not optional; the President does not have any discretionary power over their timing. The Local Govern-ment Act, Cap. 28:02 states at section 22. (3) that “All … councillors shall be elected at elections held every third year during the period commencing on 1st November and ending on 7th December.”
The National Assembly, on February 10, 2014 passed “as amended” the Local Authorities (Elec-tions) (Amendment) Bill directing that LGE be held no later than 1 August, 2014. Mr Ramotar has refused to assent to this Bill and he has, as well, refused to set a date for the holding of these elections.
While in New York, USA recently, Ramotar at a town hall meeting organised by the Association of Concerned Guyanese continued his pattern of evasion, distortion and deception. He told the audience that as a result of “the arithmetic in the parliament”, ie with the opposition having a majority, the moves to make the Ministry of Local Govern-ment and Regional Deve-lopment a “toothless poodle” by transferring all the powers of the Ministry “into a Local Government Commission”, were “totally unacceptable” [SN, Sept. 23, 2014]. The inference is that there is a linkage between his assertion and his unwillingness to have LGE! There can be none; Mr Ramotar is merely being dodgy.
Mr Ramotar and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration cannot have their cake and eat it too. Holding executive offices does not give them any right to breach the law and the Constitution. Failure to uphold these are grounds for his impeachment. The rights of citizens cannot be denied or taken away without serious consequences.
In the meantime, failure to hold LGE and to respect other constitutional provisions relating to local democracy are creating havoc in local administration and hazards for citizens. Local government organs, in the meantime, have been damaged and degraded by the PPP/C which appears to be callously unconcerned about the plight of people who have to face progressively deteriorating conditions in their communities.
The first step in reversing this situation is for the election of councillors via the democratic process. These newly-elected councils, duly armed with the confidence entrusted in them by residents of their respective communities will then be empowered with the task of creating and maintaining clean and safe communities. Under this construct, the responsibility of the central government is to partner with these 65 neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) and 6 municipalities, to cooperate and collaborate toward the common objective of improving the physical environment and the conditions under which our people live and work and our children live and play. The PPP/C has now positioned, perhaps implanted, itself as a brick wall between people’s aspirations, and its realisation.
Brigadier David Granger, Leader of the Opposition recently wrote to President Ramotar urging him to uphold his constitutional responsibility and set a date for the holding of local government elections, and to complete the reform of the system of local government in accordance with new constitutional provisions enacted in early 2001.
The people are fed up and tired of the baseless excuses being proffered by Ramotar and other PPP/C spokespersons. The people are angry at the government’s refusal to uphold the law and constitutional requirements to enable local democracy. The people cannot comprehend why is it that they are the ones who have to pay the price of living and working in broken communities due to the PPP/C’s actions of systematically dismantling and destroying local administration.
President Ramotar to his credit, in his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, sought to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people, with the following words: ‘Still at the heart of the great tragedy that is the plight of the Palestinian people. The people of Palestine have a right to live with dignity…and on the principle of self-determination.’
The reality is that Mr Ramotar is totally powerless to determine any outcome to the Palestinian people’s plight; he is, however, in the most sophisticated position to address the plight of the Guyanese people who now live in damaged and decaying communities.
‘Don’t the Guyanese people deserve to live with dignity, Mr President, and why are you denying them their right to self-determination?’
A Partnership for National Unity calls again on Donald Ramotar to heed the cries of a neglected population.
Down with PPP/C dictatorship. Vote APNU for citizens’ participation and for safer and cleaner communities. Vote APNU for a good life.
