President David Granger yesterday admitted that some candidates were victorious at last Friday’s local government polls because of the political endorsements they would have received from the governing APNU+AFC coalition.
Those candidates, Granger told a news conference at the Ministry of the Presidency, shared “our vision for clean, green communities… for an integration of the work of central, regional and municipal councils in achievement of a high quality of governance.”
At the time, Granger was responding to a question about whether some candidates won because of endorsements from the coalition government.
He said that the government has not prevented or obstructed any individual or group from participating in the elections. “But yes, I would say that people who share our vision will receive our encouragement. People who try to divide and obstruct us, well we are not going to encourage them to obstruct our work… So you are quiet right,” he said.
He noted that there were people who wanted to see Guyana become clean again and would have witnessed such efforts first hand.
Meanwhile, Granger described the elections as “a victory for democracy and an opportunity for inclusionary governance.”
Reading from a prepared statement, he said that the elections were a return to constitutionality after a lapse of nearly two decades under the previous administration. Citizens’ entitlement to participate in decision-making in their municipal and neighborhood councils has now been restored, he declared.
Granger stated that the coalition government “struggled on the street, in the regions and in the National Assembly for the restoration local democracy.” He said that they are happy to have achieved this democratic objective in less than ten months after entering office.
The historic elections, he added, were a re-assurance of the coalition’s commitment to continue its work to empower our citizens, in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana, to freely exercise their right to elect representatives of their choice to local councils; to ensure that the three levels of government – central, regional and municipal – through regular general and regional elections and local government elections, can begin to work for the common good; to establish new towns – at Mabaruma, Bartica and Lethem – to provide public services, to propel economic development in their regions and to make sure that each region is administered by a ‘capital town’ with its own mayor and town Council; and to enable the ten regions of Guyana to embark on coherent economic development programmes – in concert with both the central government and municipal administrative organs.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who also attended the press conference, said “the people of Guyana won these elections” in what the APNU + AFC administration’s had termed the year of democratic renewal. He said that at every level of political organisation in the country, in a very short space of time, “we were able to ensure that democratic renewal.”
He said that government has been left encouraged by the number of young persons who voted. “We believe that this is a very positive step and that as an administration and as a government, we would wish to embrace all of these persons irrespective of which political party, group or individuals… we would wish to embrace them to ensure that our communities are better managed,” he added.
Harmon told reporters that the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) ought to be commended for its efforts in organising the elections.
“I believe that as we move forward as a nation we are getting better with a number of things. The administration of elections, as it should in any democratic country, is a part of natural life and therefore there should be no shockwaves every time an election comes around,” he said.
According to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, who was also present, the “successful” holding of the elections was a historic occasion in the history of the country. “It represented a victory for two decades long struggle for the return and restoration of local democracy,” he said.
Bulkan said that the results of the elections do not represent a victory for any party but rather a victory for the people of Guyana. He said that successful candidates now have an opportunity to serve the residents of their constituencies as well as “to participate and lead in the process of the renewal of our communities and the reversal of the decay that has beset our communities as a result of the collapse in the local government system.”
He said that the elections will ensure democratic renewal of the life of the councils and later ensure institutional strengthening and building of capacity within the councils and the core of councillors as well as access to financial resources.
