Dear Editor,
Would you believe me if I told you that it is possible that the councillors and mayors will be determined before one vote is cast in the upcoming local government elections? Well maybe you will when I explain what was told to me at a recently held meeting in Georgetown. I was reliably informed that the larger political parties and at least one of the groups contesting are going from constituency to constituency handpicking persons to run as councillors. That would not be a bad practice, except that the persons are being handpicked to run with the promise that these deep-pocket groups and parties will finance the individuals’ campaigns, in exchange for their votes for the mayorship.
The plan is a well-hatched one. It goes like this: if you agree to run under the banner of a particular group or party, all your finances will be provided by the said group or party. You must agree, however, that when you are elected a councillor, you will cast your vote at the municipal level for the person who funded your campaign.
Editor, just when we thought as Guyanese that we have attained some semblance of democratic transparency at the national and regional levels, we realize that at the local level, electoral shenanigans and political vagaries loom large.
One would have thought that at the local government level, those contesting the elections were patriotic and nationalistic at heart. It would have been assumed that those competing to represent their constituents were doing so because they saw a tangible need and wanted to cast in their lot to help.
However, it is likely that many of those who will be offering themselves to the electorate are really straw-men and straw-women, who are political pawns. Now after 23 years, the LGE which should have been about the development of the individual communities has been reduced to a power-grab and an egotistical scramble for the mayoral positions.
Because of the selfish desires of a few wealthy parties and groups the LGE is shaping up to be a big pansy scheme.
What should be a huge national activity filled with pride and nostalgia is likely to turn out to be a business agreement with prearranged quid pro quo provisions.
Any Tom, Mary and Jane is being asked to enter the LGE race. He/she does not have to have a desire for the betterment of the community. He/she does not have to understand the art of management or possess a nationalistic desire for the development of Guyana.
All he/she has to be willing to do is be a political pawn and exchange their seats for their votes, for the mayor.
And the sad fact is, unless the law changes, there is nothing that can be done to stop it. The construct of the LGE electoral laws allows for this king of political gymnastics. Additionally, no well-funded party or group will renege on the temptation of exploiting this loophole.
All of them are likely to do it, because all of them want the mayorships to be under their control.
The other frightening fact is that once a mayor is entrenched, he/she could remain there for many years. All the mayor has to do is fund the campaigns of straw-people in exchange for their votes, and we could well have another life-time mayor. God forbid.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor W P Jeffrey
Practical National Movement
