Nomination Day on Friday for Local Government Elections (LGE) on November 12 was a seminal development as it set in train consecutive elections for grassroots democracy in under three years. Such an occurrence, unbelievably, has not been seen before in the post-independence history of the country. The APNU+AFC government must therefore take credit for laying the enabling conditions for these elections. It is true that in its period in office, APNU+AFC has not distinguished itself in some aspects of local government notably the obsession to control the appointment of key personnel and latterly the redrawing of boundaries and creation of new local authority areas without adequate consultation with the people, political parties and other stakeholders. However, there can be no denying that councils elected in 2016 operated under a new dispensation and with subventions from the state and these councils are now preparing to face the electorate again in November.
Turnout at local government elections has traditionally been dismal in this country and 2016 (around 38%) was no exception despite elections not having been held since 1994. GECOM, political parties and civil society have their work cut out for them in motivating members of the public to participate in the upcoming elections.
Ideally, local government should be in the hands of the people in the community who have the ability and requisite skills to run their councils and who are dedicated to improving the quality of life of their fellow citizens. The elected leaders of the council and councillors should be able to devote sufficient time to their tasks for the optimal results and should be paid a reasonable sum for this. Managing local government shouldn’t be seen as a part-time activity or a weekend task; it should demand full-time attention as per any other serious undertaking.
One of the major drawbacks of local government in this country is that it is deeply suffused with the divisive politics at the national level. Neither of the two major parties: the PPP/C and APNU/PNCR appear willing to relinquish their grip on local government and neither of the two is yet able to convince the public that the people at the head of their various slates have the ability to lead and know what they are doing.
The unfortunate result is that many of the local government councils are improperly run, enveloped in bickering, cannot account for monies and have not improved services that residents in their communities need. It is unclear how much time and resources the political parties apply towards grooming candidates for local government rather than simply plucking their names from the list of faithfuls and giving them a pep talk. The less the presence of the two major parties in local government, the better. This unfortunately doesn’t seem to be developing at all. It appears that smaller parties and civic groups have not had a good experience with local government since 2016 and have rushed for the exits at the upcoming polls or joined one of the two main parties. Community groups and smaller parties which contested at the biggest council of all – Georgetown – are not participating. The two groups which won three seats on the 30-seat council: Team Benschop and Team Legacy are not participating. The prospects are that the city council will be completely dominated by the parties who bestride the national scene. All that is left to be seen is whether the poor performance of the APNU-led city council causes it to lose seats to the PPP/C. Will the AFC and independents be able to win any seats? Elected civic groups are also not contesting in Bartica and in Beterverwagting this year.
It will be difficult to assess how the municipalities and the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) have performed in the absence of any considered evaluation which should be mandatory but not entrusted to the Ministry of Communities which is seen to be a partisan in these matters. The evaluation should inform the members of each community about the percentage of rates and taxes collected by their councils, the size of the fiscal transfer from central government, how the funds were spent, whether expenditure complied with best practices and an assessment of the council’s performance from the perspective of the people. While local government is crucial it must not only be such in name. Large amounts of monies from rates and taxes and state subventions are passing through these councils and there must be full accountability and value for money for the people.
While no such formal reports on the councils are available to the public, much is known about the largest council simply because it is located in the capital city and is in charge of Georgetown. What is known of the performance of the APNU-led Mayor and City Council would be given an immediate failing grade. It has frequently been unable to pay its staff on time, garbage collection has been interrupted on several occasions because of disputes with sanitation companies, drainage of the city has been poor at key moments, vital projects such as the restoration of city hall and the Kitty Market have been at a standstill and it is unable to maintain Le Repentir Cemetery. While its revenue base is inadequate and a long-awaited revaluation of city properties is still in train, it is clear that the city has not managed well and numerous complaints have now triggered an investigation of it by the Local Government Commission.
Perhaps, the biggest downfall of the APNU-led council was the decision by its leading lights, Mayor Chase-Green, councillor Clarke and others to enter a dangerous and murky deal for parking meters which rightly prompted outrage by city residents. This deal was entered into without adequate legal advice, observance of procurement rules and without engaging the full council. It has the attributes of the most malign type of governance and must not be revisited again upon the citizens of the city.
In the period before November 12, the citizens of this country must review where they were when local government elections were held in March 2016 and how they have fared in the period since. They must look within their communities for signs of improvement or deterioration. They must then look to see which candidates have thrown their hats into the ring and begin questioning their records and plans in preparation for polling day.
