Dear Editor,
I was at a few meetings of both the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU.) in Region # 2 within the Good Hope–Pomona Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC.) and I was surprised that names on the List of Candidates representing those parties at the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) were not announced even though a couple of those persons were at the meetings.
The Lists of Candidates for all the parties that are contesting the November 12, 2018 Elections are at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) offices established within the NDC but based on the level of interest displayed by a large amount of the electorate in these election, they would not find time and money to check the Voters List, which is also at the GECOM Offices to ascertain if their names are on same.
The Candidates List, be it the Proportional Representation (PR) or the Constituency FPTP and the extremely poor turnout at meetings would endorse the point I am making, and because of this I feel that at the meetings they should announce the names of the candidates on the various lists. I strongly believe also that there should be debates among the candidates on the constituency list representing the political parties along with those independent candidates and interest groups.
These debates would give the voters a fair idea of what type of representation they can expect at the constituency level should a particular candidate be elected.
Strange but true, those who never advocated for Local Government Elections are now telling the people how important these elections are and how they must vote. Blind political loyalty is an impediment to the development of a NDC, Municipality and by extension the country.
Most of the voters are simply not interested in the names and the ability of the candidates on the list, they would be looking for the party symbol.
On a related issue, I strongly believe that a person should not be a NDC Councillor and a RDC Councillor at the same time or a Town Councillor and a RDC Councillor. It is like being a member of the lower house and the upper house during the same period. While both Chapter 28:01 of the Municipal and District Councils Act, and 28:02 of the Local Government Act are silent on being both at the same time, good judgement should prevail. I can remember in 2006, when I served as a Councillor of the Region # 2 RDC a person was the Chairman of the Evergreen/ Paradise NDC and was also a RDC Councillor. Objections were made but as expected the situation remained the same until the RDCs were dissolved for the holding of the 2011 elections.
Yours faithfully,
Archie Cordis
Former AFC Councillor
Region # 2
