– laments delays
‘Local Government Elections are extremely important for the development in our country and for the renewal of grassroots democracy in Guyana’ – Donald Ramotar
THE holding of Local Government Elections is important for development and ‘renewal of grassroots democracy’ in Guyana, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Mr. Donald Ramotar declared yesterday.

Addressing a news conference at the party’s Freedom House headquarters on Robb Street, Georgetown, Ramotar reminded the media that Local Government Elections was last held in August, 1994 and because of several issues that developed, it has not been held since.

He recalled that it was first scheduled to be held in 1997, but clashed with the 1997 General elections, which prevented it from being held.

“Then after the 1997 elections, we had a new constitutional reform process which recommended that we have Local Government Elections on a new system,” he said.

“But it did not spell out what the new system would have been and that was the subject of negotiations between our party and the opposition, to come up with something that all of us would be happy with.”

That process, he lamented, had been going on since 2001. “Eight years now we have been working on this issue, and in my view most of the fundamental features were agreed on and those areas that total agreement has not been reached yet, are not fundamental.”

“We have reached agreement on the electoral system and we reach agreement on fiscal transfers, so the other issues are not so fundamental,” he repeated.

Observing the effects of not having Local Government Elections for such a long time, he insisted, “We believe that this is an urgent national issue to have Local Government Elections as early as possible.”

“All the bills as it relates to Local Government Elections have now been tabled in the National Assembly,” he pointed out.

“The opposition, the Alliance for Change (AFC) has named someone to sit at the Select Committee of the National Assembly which we are happy about,” he expressed.

However, Ramotar stressed, “But so far, the People’s National Congress Reform has not named their members to the Select Committee so that we can move this process along.”

“I am getting very concerned when I see issues in the press or statements in the press saying that Local Government Elections would not be held in 2009, and it coincides with the attitude that I am seeing, the whole fact that the PNC not wanting to go to the Select Committee, that there seems to be attempts afoot to try to delay the Local Government Elections,” he observed.

He asserted, “I want to say that the PPP will work hard to do its best to ensure that we have these elections before the end of this year. We will do all that is possible to have these elections before the end of this year.”

Ramotar added, “I think the Guyanese people deserve no less after the fact that things have been delayed for such a long time.”

“We would hope and welcome the participation of the PNCR in the Select Committee to thrash out whatever other issues there are,” he pointed out.

“However, I do not think that we would allow their lack of participation from preventing us from moving ahead with these important documents,” he maintained.

Noting that all five of the Local Government Reform Bills are now in the National Assembly, before a Select Committee, Ramotar stated, “Therefore they can all be dealt with simultaneously, and taken back to the floor at a later date, hopefully not very long from now, to be approved by the whole assembly.”