— GECOM Chairman
LOCAL government elections – last held 15 years ago – can be called by November 30 this year or even earlier, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, Dr. Steve Surujbally assured yesterday.

Reacting to renewed concerns by President Bharrat Jagdeo that the delay in calling fresh elections at the village, town and other community levels has been too long, the GECOM head said his team is prepared for the polls.

Mr. Charles Corbin takes the Oath of Office, while Chief Protocol Officer Mr.Vick Persaud looks on. (Cullen Bess-Nelson photo)

“We are prepared to have elections by November 30 and I think we can perhaps even do a bit better than that — but all is resting on the deliberations of the joint task force for local government reform”, Surujbally offered.

He said the commission has an approved budget for producing new ID cards for the elections.

His undertaking came at the formal swearing in by President Jagdeo of Mr. Charles Corbin as a member of GECOM, replacing the late Mr. Lloyd Joseph of the main Opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).

‘CONGRATULATIONS’: President Bharrat Jagdeo shares a light moment with Mr. Charles Corbin at the Office of the President yesterday.

He said he has been an advisor and has counseled the joint opposition parties on the work of the elections commission. He is also a Vice-President of the Guyana Olympic Association.

At the Office of the President ceremony, witnessed by a small gathering, Mr. Jagdeo said the government is ready for local government elections and hopes it can soon settle the framework for the polls with the opposition.

“We are ready to go but soon, hopefully we would be able to settle this issue…bilaterally – between the opposition and the government – to conclude the framework for holding these elections”, he said.

He added: “alternatively, if we can’t reach agreement at the bilateral level we would have to go to Parliament and have the debates take place there (and probably go to a) select committee and whatever comes out of that then that would be the framework that would be guiding the elections.”

“But we absolutely have to move forward; it’s unacceptable that so many years after local government elections were held we’ve been unable to hold these elections…we’re not meeting the wishes of the people at the local government level”, he stated.

He argued that the joint task force should have been able to reach agreement after eight years and noted that it began working two years after he first became President.

“My God…that was two years after I started as President; if you judge my presidency based on that it would be a failure”, he quipped, triggering laughter from the gathering in the office.

He reiterated that holding local government elections is important and said he has asked the body not to linger if it cannot reach agreement.

PEOPLE MUST KNOW
The President suggested that the task force pass its recommendations and issues that it can reach agreement on to the Leader of the Opposition.

“…those you can’t reach agreement on, we will deliberate on these issues; if you can’t reach agreement then the next thing is to go to the Parliament with a draft bill and have the debates take place so that the people of the country would know the positions of the various bodies in Parliament and then you conclude some arrangement.

“But they can’t go on forever”, he declared.

The President came face-to-face with community problems rooted in a fossilized local government system when he launched 72 whistle stop meetings by Cabinet members and other key officials in Region Six earlier this month.

The Cabinet outreach is to brief residents on measures in this year’s national budget crafted to help the country ride out the current global financial crisis.

Meeting residents at Alness on the Corentyne, Mr. Jagdeo noted that most of the issues they raised would have been resolved if the system on the ground was effective, but almost everything backs up to central government or to the Regional Democratic Council.

He declared that a renewal of local government bodies is direly needed, adding “if you don’t have that then everything gets backed up to the other level because you don’t have people within the community who would solve this issue”.

Mr. Jagdeo noted that the Constitution was changed and for years “we have been having quiet discussions between the government and the Opposition about how we get this thing going but it’s taking too long.”

He said he had advocated taking the issue to Parliament for a public debate and to let the whole country decide and determine the system – whatever it is – even if it means going back to the old system “so we can put people in these bodies who will deal with the little things in the communities”.

“I go to many places and I understand people are very frustrated”, he told residents, saying functional and functioning local government bodies with people committed to the task could easily fix these things.

He signaled that the government will be pressing for new local government elections to be held by November this year “so that we can put new people in these bodies who will look after the interest of the communities.”

The PNCR earlier this month argued that the government and GECOM have to resolve several “very important issues” before the holding of local government elections.

It said these include completing the draft bill on fiscal transfers; completing the draft bill for the establishment of the Local Government Commission; developing and implementing a comprehensive public education programme to ensure that the Guyanese electorate is fully informed of the changes agreed for the system of local government and the holding of local government in elections; and the demarcation of local government boundaries, as required by the proposed new local government electoral system.

The PNCR reiterated that required pieces of legislation must be submitted simultaneously to, and passed by, the National Assembly, prior to the holding of new local government elections.

Other GECOM members are Mr. Moen McDoom; Dr. Keshav ‘Bud’ Mangal; Mr. Mahamood Shaw for the government; and opposition representatives, Mr. Robert Williams and Mr. Vincent Alexander.