– Senior management goes on leave till 2010
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon has again expressed disappointment with the delay in the long awaited Local Government Elections which were to be held this year.

Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said the inability of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to host Local Government Election in 2009 was fully confirmed by news of the secretariat announcing their annual vacation extending from current until January 31, 2010.

This will result in the absence of the full complement of the middle and senior management during this period.

Dr Luncheon said this decision by the Commission at such a critical time, with the pending Local Government Elections, begs the questions of the commitment of this entity in ensuring the execution of these long awaited elections.

Dr Luncheon noted that the detail of the ill-fated procurement of National Identification (ID) card material from De La Rue, an overseas based firm, makes for “vexed reading” in light of the abandonment of 2009 as the date for the elections.

“It is troubling that GECOM has made an obvious decision that it could close shop probably because ID card distribution is now seen by GECOM as the sole determinant, the actual determining event, in the process of handling elections in Guyana”.

Luncheon also said the disappointment that has flowed from GECOM’s management of a 2009 Local Government Elections “ought to have invited a more determined response from stakeholders”.

“But it does seem in light of the top brass desire, I don’t know if they have agreed, but in light of their desire to abandon ship and indeed to put the last nail in the coffin of the 2009 date for Local Government Elections, they are pretty much saying that ‘no ID card distribution, no Local Government Elections’,” Dr Luncheon told reporters in his inimitable style.

President Bharrat Jagdeo had also expressed disappointment at the announcement by GECOM that preparations would not be completed for the holding of local government elections this year.

He said he is surprised that despite the amount of resources that has been pumped into GECOM, it is still not in a position to bring off the elections this year.

“Something has to be wrong,” the President offered, adding that at one time this country spent more money on a per capita basis on elections more than any other country, with the exception of Afghanistan.

Mr. Jagdeo asserted that the Chairman of GECOM, Dr Steve Surujbally bears full responsibility for the present situation, reiterating that the government keeps pumping taxpayers’ money “ad nauseam” into the elections process.

He also lamented that GECOM had long notice of the intention to hold the elections before the end of this year, noting that in some Caribbean countries with just over a month’s notice preparations are in place for the holding of elections.

GECOM, in a status report on the preparations last month indicated that the previously postponed local government elections will not take place this year.

For the polling, production of a new National Register of Registrants (NRR) and new identification (ID) cards, delimitation (demarcation/delineation) of boundaries for constituencies, claims and objections to the voters’ list and Civic and Voter Education must be completed.

Local government elections were last held in 1994. However, because of an agreement between the government and opposition on the need for a reform of the local government system a joint Task Force was established in this regard in 2001. But after several years of work, consensus on some aspects of the reform was not reached. This inevitably led to postponements of the elections for several years.

Earlier this year, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall noted that at present, many local government bodies are not functioning due to the lack of local government elections. This, he said, has resulted in a breakdown in governance at local government level.