HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon has reaffirmed the Administration’s commitment to holding local government elections this year.

But he pointed to some related challenges when replying to questions from the media, concerning preparation for the vote, at his post-Cabinet briefing last week at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

Luncheon noted that the Administration recently voiced its concerns, through a letter to the Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Mr. Robert Corbin, to sensitise the party that it is committed to the polls in 2009.

He said the correspondence noted it is a serious undertaking and urged that the PNCR address how delays can be dealt with and avoided.

Luncheon reminded that, sometime ago, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said the work of the Local Government Task Force is finished.

That body, comprising members of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the PNCR, was established in 2001 to deal with the local government reform process and emerged from the dialogue between President Jagdeo and then Leader of the Opposition, the late Mr. Desmond Hoyte.

However, its Co-Chair, former Minister Clinton Collymore, last April, announced the termination of the meetings stating that, following major and fundamental disagreements between members of the governing PPP/C and the opposition PNCR, he decided to stop the meetings on his own volition.

President Jagdeo has already said he will be meeting with Mr. Corbin to discuss what came out of the Task Force and present a final opportunity for some understanding to be reached on the bills, one way or the other, subsequent to which they would be going to Parliament, Luncheon recalled.

Recognising that going to Parliament was the definitive action, Luncheon said: “You have to go to Parliament to enact the legislation, particularly those aspects on which the local government elections are based.”

PROVISIONS
Acknowledging that Corbin is not well, the HPS said: “However, there does exist, in the law and in our practice, provisions for post holders unable to discharge their statutory functions.”

Luncheon said he brought that to the attention of the General Secretary of the PNCR, Mr. Oscar Clarke.

Luncheon said some clarity is to be provided on what happens, at the level of the publicly committed to discussion between the President and the Leader of the Opposition before the bills go to Parliament.

“They will go to parliament,” he affirmed.

Revealing that the greater problem is at the level of GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission), Luncheon said the latter “has always been a thorny issue.”

He said, over the years, it has benefited from the chairmanship of Dr. Steve Surujbally and the robust involvement of representatives of the political parties in Parliament.

“This is notwithstanding a most aggressive campaign by some, who feel that it can be better done by non-political or appolitical appointees to the Commission,” Luncheon said.

“The approach is one that provides a little bit of challenges, not only to GECOM but also to the political parties and also to the Guyanese people in general,” he posited.

Luncheon said: “The recently enacted legislation resolved one aspect that dealt with the scrutineers and removed the uncertainty about the administrative aspects of scrutineer functioning but other things continue to challenge the Elections Commission.”

Still, he believes GECOM is invigorated by the recent additions and also in sync with the commitment to have local government elections in 2009.

“I would want you to believe that the Administration, the Commission and the political parties are at one and continue to be working to ensure local government elections in 2009 are actually held,” Luncheon asserted.