Dear Editor,
Please let me quote the Hon. Minister of Communities from his letter in your columns yesterday, April 14: “… – acting on legal advice and our interpretation of Section 28 (7) of the Local Government Act, Chapter 28:02 and Section 13(8) of the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01 – I proceeded to appoint leaders and deputy leaders of the councils in question, from among those with the largest numbers of votes, as stipulated by the laws.”
The inference is that the Laws cited empower the Minister to appoint, on the basis of plurality of votes, chairs and deputy chairs of tied councils. The PPP presumably on different legal advice, have obtained an interim injunction (without a hearing!) from the court. The Minister bemoans the resultant delay in the functioning of those councils, which he claims would fulfil his commitment to democracy, not dictatorship.
So the citizens of those communities must wait to see local government without dictatorship. I’m sure they are holding their breath, glad to see the Minister’s commitment to the rule of law, however slow the judicial system has become, and why.
This leaves aside the related question of the legality of elections in other councils which were held in the absence of clerks appointed according to law by a Local Government Commission. I have since March 30 sought legal advice on that issue, and am waiting patiently for my chosen advisor to find the time to reply to me. Such a peripheral matter, after all, to the paramountcy of the party system.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
