Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan yesterday defended his decision to appoint the Mayor of Mabaruma declaring that the law allows him to make such a selection even as he dismissed as “inapplicable,” a clause that allows voters to directly elect a mayor in the event of a tied council vote.
The minister argued that the legislation when read in its entirety does not contemplate voters directly electing mayors. “Nowhere in the legislation, namely the Municipal and District Councils Act Chapter 28:01 or the Local Government Act 28:02 is it contemplated that the mayors will be directly elected by the voters,” Bulkan told reporters at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday.
“It is always the contemplation in the legislation that the mayors will be elected by their respective councils and it is in that context that the provisions in the legislation when read in its entirety, establishes quite clearly that the responsibility for the election of the mayors is that of the councillors, and in cases where there are ties or the councillors are unable for whatever reason to make such an election, that it is the prerogative and the responsibility of the minister,” he said.
After being appointed by Bulkan following the inability of the Mabaruma town council to elect a mayor, APNU+AFC councillors Henry Smith and Ashtrilla Gamell were sworn in as mayor and deputy-mayor of the Region One town by President David Granger yesterday. The PPP had deemed Bulkan’s act “illegal” and said it intends to pursue the matter aggressively including “immediate litigation and protests” against him. “I am unclear as to the interpretation of the PPP in deeming my actions illegal or unlawful. The legislation, according to the legal advice that I have received, allows that in the event of a tie for the election of a mayor, that following two such meetings that the minister is empowered to make a selection from among the candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the event of such a tie,” Bulkan said.
Both the APNU+AFC coalition and the opposition PPP have six seats on Mabaruma’s 12-seat council and in two rounds of voting for the mayor, each side voted along party lines resulting in a stalemate as no candidate could get a majority. Subsequent to this, Bulkan appointed Smith as mayor.
Section 13 (6) of the Municipal and District Council’s Act states that if there is an equality of votes, “the Town Clerk shall appoint a day not later than the 28th December in the same year for the election of the Mayor from among such candidates by the voters whose names appear on the register of voters for the time being in force for the City.”
When this clause was pointed out by Stabroek News, Bulkan said it was inapplicable. “I believe the preceding section of the Act to which you refer establishes the date of the first meeting will be the 16th of December which leaves a mere two weeks to the 28th of December and when one takes into account the raft of measures that are necessary to go to the electorate, it makes that provision inapplicable and thereby and this is why I said the full reading of all of the sections in the legislation establishes that there is never the contemplation that in the event of a tie that you have to have a by-election or to go back to a plebiscite,” he asserted.
The PPP has argued that it is only in the event of a tie at the election under Section 13 (6), that the minister can appoint a mayor from among the candidates securing an equal number of votes.
Section 13 (8) of the Act says that where by reason of equality of votes cast at the election by the voters, no person is elected mayor, the Minister shall select one of the councillors receiving the largest number of votes to be mayor.
In addition to Mabaruma, the PPP said that Bulkan “illegally” appointed the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons in five other tied local authority areas.
Bulkan said when the notices were served in the local authority areas where there were stalemates after the first election, it was specified that the second meeting was for the election of the mayor. “Those PPP councillors chose to attend as well as to participate thereby giving validity and accepting the legality of the process and procedure. So I believe it must have been some late recognition if you will or reflection on the part of the PPP that caused them to adopt the posture that I have read in the media,” he said, noting the PPP’s intention to challenge the decision in the courts.
The minister expressed confidence that government’s case would stand up in court. He added that he has not heard from the Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission on the matter.
According to Bulkan, the administration is determined to rebuild and rehabilitate the damaged and dysfunctional system of local government left by the PPP and the pace of reform will not be determined by the PPP.
