WHILE the tiers of local government have laws that give elected leaders the authority to raise revenues and govern the affairs of the communities, what the laws have not given them is the authority for the chairmen and mayors to instruct the town clerk or the clerk of the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). These clerks, under the laws, are the chief executive officers of these local government bodies. Their authority comes from the decisions of the council; and the decisions they make in the execution of the council’s decisions and the day-to-day management of the NDCs or city councils are expected to be done within the confines of respective by-laws and national laws.From reports coming out of meetings with the councils of different municipalities and NDCs, a full understanding of the roles between the policymakers and the executives seems to be somewhat lacking. In the local government system, the policymakers are the councils and the executives are the clerks, having attendant staff and departments that are charged under the Local Government Law to ensure the day-to-day running of the towns’ and NDCs’ affairs.

Quite recently, the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana had cause to publicly state that he is prepared to carry out his duty as vice chancellor and allow the University Council to play its role and carry out its duties uninhibited. The vice chancellor was speaking to a known practice of interference at the university, where its council and the politicians meddle in the day-to-day management of the institution. Using this as a reference point, the vice chancellor made it known that non-interference is an important feature in arresting the problems facing the university.

The practice of interference is not unique to the university, but is pervasive in other state-owned and Government institutions, inclusive of the local government authorities. In the recent past, this nation has seen interference to the extent where councillors ascribed to themselves the roles of administrators; elected councils suffered at the hands of partisan politics; and some councils were disbanded, to be replaced by hand-picked Interim Management Committees, with no regard for the will of the people.

Since the Local Government elections of last March, there has been growing disquiet that a number of councillors are unaware of the roles of the council and the line of demarcation and authority between the councillors and the administrative staff. Recent reports out of Linden are highlighting this disquiet in that they indicate the existing gulf between the elected mayor — who is responsible for chairing of the Council, whose responsibility it is to be making decisions pertaining to policies and programmes — and the town clerk, who has responsibility for the implementation of same.

The public spat between the mayor and town clerk, which can be easily resolved, is exemplifying an unease that needs to be addressed in order to help councillors get acquainted with their roles and responsibilities. Considering that the current councils have been elected after an absence of more than a decade of local government elections, the situation invariably involves some newness, absence of institutional memory, good precedence, and ignorance of how the local government system works.

The Ministry of Communities may need to see the necessity of intervening to empower the councils through training and education. It would be a boost to the local government system and an advantage to society to emerge from the era where power trumps universally acceptable principles, rules and laws.

Additionally, the local government system has gone through recent amendments, to make it more responsive and representative of the people at the grassroots’ level. Given this combination of factors, if situations are not handled judiciously, a combustible environment can be created, and people can lose faith in this most basic form of democracy.

An intervention by the Ministry of Communities can seek to address the clear demarcation of the roles of executives as against those of policymakers.

Where the society has, for some time, been operating at a level that indicates that substantive reading is not considered priority because ‘might is right’ rules the day, an understanding of and respect for the laws not held in esteem would impact the smooth functioning of local government organs. In the current environment, people, though well-meaning, can do the wrong things.

As things move through what is evidently a teething phase, it may be apposite for the Ministry of Communities to recruit competent and experienced managers who served the public well, and endow them with specific authority to help the newly-elected officials and the clerks to discharge their respective responsibilities.

Citizens have, for more than a decade, been clamouring for local government elections to be held. That the APNU+AFC administration has been able to hold local government elections in under a year, and the people, in their respective communities, were allowed to elect their local representatives in whom they repose confidence to manage their day-to-day affairs, the system must be allowed to work efficiently and effectively. What these leaders need now is a helping hand in the right direction.