Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh SC, yesterday ruled that Local Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall, has no authority to constitute constituencies in Local Authority Areas as he did in Order 50 of 2022.
Under the order, Local Authorities (Elections) (Constituencies) Order 2022, amendments were made to the boundaries of Municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.
Opposition-appointed Commissioners had strongly argued the case that the minister does not have the powers to demarcate boundaries of Local Authority Areas and Constituencies and by doing so he acted in contravention of the constitution.
Opposition-appointed Commissioner, Vincent Alexander told Stabroek News that at the meeting which was held yesterday, the chair’s ruling was made based on a report from the Logistics Division of the Commission.
“In the meeting based on a report from the logistics division, the Chair ruled that Order 50 of 2022 clearly cannot stand since the minister has no authority to constitute constituencies,” Alexander said as he described the meeting as the shortest in the commission’s history.
“Settling this issue is a precursor to any further movement in the preparation for Local Government Elections… however, the preparation of the list is in dispute. That has to be settled,” Alexander had underscored previously.
With these concerns addressed, the commission at the next statutory meeting will consider the proposed work plan. If approved, Local Government Elections can be held at the earliest by April 24.
According to Alexander, from yesterday’s discussion the chair is now “hedging that she does not know the Minister acted unlawfully although orders 40 and 50 of 2022 record the Minister’s attempt to exceed his authority.”
GECOM last week, while responding to media reports, had said the powers given to the minister and the commission differ and do not conflict.
In the statement, Singh explained that the minister has the power to divide Guyana into areas as provided for, considering the factors specified by Article 72(2) of the Constitution in defining the boundaries of those areas. This includes the power to define and modify the boundaries of neighbourhoods, people’s co-operative units within those neighbourhoods, and establish local democratic organs for those.
On the other hand, the Commission only has the power to combine or subdivide those divisions within neighbourhoods, and municipalities, to form constituencies, the statement said.
“Addressing some existing concerns regarding the recently gazetted orders of the minister, in which he made changes to the existing Local Authority Areas, and at the same time may have identified changes to those constituencies within the Local Authority Areas, the Chairman pointed out that those changes made to the boundaries of the local authority areas, and any changes to electoral divisions within those Local Authority Areas, are within the legal authority of the Minister,” GECOM had said.
In the same vein, the Chairman said that if the minister sought to form or change the configuration of constituencies within those areas, he would have usurped the power granted to the Commission to combine and sub-divide electoral
divisions to form constituencies. She formed the opinion that the Minister would have acted outside of his legal remit if such was the case.
At a press conference on November 25th, Dharamlall spoke liberally on the redrawing of constituencies.
For better representation, he said, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government had decided to revert to the boundaries used at the polls in 2016. In a few instances, he said some were extended. “…. For LGE we have made some changes which we believe will redound to the benefit of greater, expanded and enhanced community development…We are aware that local democracy is essential to the overall development of our communities and to our people and our country,” Dharamlall told the press conference, which was held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
According to Dharamlall, the modifications will see an increase in the complement of councillors in local democratic organs in the 80 local authority areas; namely the 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the 10 municipalities.
In 2018, he said there were 1,192 council seats across the country in 596 constituencies, while for the upcoming LGE, there will be 1,220 council seats in 610 constituencies.
Dharamlall said the changes were made following consultations with the communities and residents. “As a matter of fact, I would want to think that there was a deliberate attempt to keep out the public from this process in 2018 because a lot of the changes were done internally through the Guyana Elections Commission and not through the consultative national process,” he noted.
In outlining the changes, Dharamlall explained that the district boundary for Mabaruma Township in Region One has been extended to include the community of Wauna.
