“The country has suffered too much”, he says
HEAD of State President Bharrat Jagdeo is insisting that the country has suffered too much because of the absence of Local Government Elections, making it clear that his government is finished with the approach taken through the Task Force.

President Jagdeo made this statement during a press conference yesterday at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

“The country has suffered too much because of the absence of Local Government Elections,” he said.

He observed that almost all of the Local Government bodies are either dysfunctional or functioning sub-optimally, noting, “This is why so many Local Government issues or local issues remain unresolved – community-based problems in the city and in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) across the country.”

He stressed, “This needs to change and this is the Government of Guyana approach to this matter.”

“We want it done transparently, in the public eye, the future discussions, so that if there is any pedantic behaviour on the part of either of the two parties then the public can see this and judge for themselves,” he pointed out.

“Let me make it very clear that I am finished. I am done with this approach where members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and members of the People’s National Congress (PNC) will sit in a close ‘huddle outside’ of the glare of the public eye and public scrutiny and take eight years to conclude two pieces of legislation, and still have another two to work on of the four that are required for us to hold Local Government Elections,” he stated.

“If we use the same timeline, it will take another eight years – 16 years to complete this discussion,” he insisted.

Insisting that they have had enough time, he said, “I have been told by Minister Collymore (Clinton Collymore) that from the Opposition side there has been ‘stone walling’ and that there does not seem to be any urgency about this matter and therefore I have decided that that is the end.”

“Minister Collymore said he is frustrated. He feels that they could not advance the work any further – I am of the same opinion,” the Head of State said.

President Jagdeo said, “Once we get all the work that they have completed, I will make one attempt to try to solve the outstanding issues with the Leader of the Opposition.”

“If that does not succeed then we take the four bills to the parliament where people can debate them; the country can listen to what are the positions proposed by the two sides and it will be in the full glare of the media and then we will have a resolution in parliament and once that is done, we will proceed to Local Government Elections,” he told the media.

“I hope next week when I get back (from Port of Spain) to make contact with the Opposition Leader and soon thereafter to meet.”

“If we have a good engagement and we can settle the issues, fine…if that does not go we cannot resolve the issue, we go forward to the parliament,” he noted.

Co-Chair of the Local Government Task Force, former Minister Collymore, recently had announced that he has ‘terminated’ meetings of the Task Force.

In a statement, Collymore strongly rebuked Mr. Robert Corbin, the Leader of the Opposition PNCR, who had earlier claimed that Collymore was instructed to terminate the consultations on local government reform and made it clear that no one instructed him to terminate the meeting.

Collymore said the Task Force had met but following ‘major and fundamental disagreements’ during the meeting between members of the governing PPP and the opposition PNCR, he decided to terminate the meeting on his own volition.

Collymore also noted that according to the agreement, no meeting of the Task Force could be held without a properly constituted quorum which includes both Co-chairmen and two other members, at least one from each side.

The Task Force, comprising members of the PPP/C and the PNCR was established in 2001 to deal with the affairs of the Local Government Reform process and came out of the dialogue between President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Leader of the Opposition, the late Desmond Hoyte.

Among the terms of reference of the Task Force are: to ensure the conclusion of the constitutional reform process and give effect to the new constitutional provisions regarding local democracy; to monitor and guide the drafting, passing and implementation of legislation to give greater autonomy to local government bodies, including the establishment of the local government commission, and the formulation and implementation of objective criteria for the purpose of the allocation of resources by local democratic organs.

It is hoped that the Local Government polls will be held before November 30 of this year.