Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has announced his intention to change the composition of the Interim Management Committees (IMCs) countrywide in a bid to remove political individuals and replace them with competent persons willing to serve their communities.
Over the past years the PPP/C administration through its Local Government Ministry had swept through the country removing duly elected Neighbourhood Democra-tic Councils (NDCs) and replacing them with IMCs whose memberships were made up of persons affiliated with the party. In some cases the residents of the communities—specifically Kwakwani and Bartica—had vociferously objected to the installation of the IMCs but the government disregarded these concerns and installed the IMCs.
Bulkan, who had led the then opposition APNU’s objection to this state of affair, yesterday said that the ministry would be moving through the country to replace members where necessary while maintaining the coalition’s government pledge to hold local government elections in the earliest time frame.
According to the new minister this course of action is designed to “bring back professionalism and efficiency and competency within the council by the removal of political consideration.”
He pointed out when the past administration moved to replace the NDCs it failed to maintain the proportionality of the composition of the council as it relates to the political parties and civil society persons who were voted onto the council. This, he said, was done to the detriment of the citizens of the various communities as the IMC were made up of “PPP cronies” who were creatures of the local government minister. “We would seek to change the composition of the IMCs if and when necessary…and we would replace members with civic-minded people who are competent and want to serve and take out the political loyalty…” the minister told Stabroek News. While IMCs were used to replace mostly NDCs these were also installed where municipalities were present as was in the case of Rose Hall and Linden and there were talks for the same to be done in Georgetown but Mayor Hamilton Greene had threatened to fight this as he had pointed out that he was voted in and only the votes of citizens can replace him. Section 305 of the Municipal & District Councils Act, provides the government with the authority to establish an IMC for any municipality in Guyana.
When he was asked about the purpose of appointing IMCs to manage the affairs of communities across the country then local government minister Ganga Persaud, under whose tenure this started and was continued by his successor Norman Whittaker, had said that IMCs were only short-term solutions.
“They are temporary in nature, pending the holding of local government elections and councils are replaced for a number of reasons,” he had said and pointed out that many suffered depletion to a state to which they do not have a quorum, while the operation of others have been deemed unsatisfactory by their constituency. In either case, he had added, there are calls for an inquiry and based on those, a decision is taken to establish an IMC or not.
However, in the cases of Bartica and Kwakwani the residents had been against the IMCs and had called for local government elections instead.
An enquiry into the operations of the Bartica Neighbourhood Democra-tic Council (NDC) by minister saw residents speaking largely in favour of the NDC.
However, weeks later in what the former NDC chairman Gerald Joseph said was a stealthy move, the ministry dissolved the NDC and appointed an IMC.
At that time Bulkan had said that it was perverse and obscene for the government to remove NDCs and install IMCs without, at a minimum, ensuring that the same composition of members of the political parties as were elected is maintained.
He had said that the law caters for IMCs but it was not envisaged that government would have used it in such a “perverse” manner. He said that it would not be easy to mount a legal challenge. The actions by the government show a total disregard for stakeholders, Bulkan had said. He said that it was an act of provocation and the government is engaged in an “undemocratic campaign.”
