– Ramotar
GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Mr. Donald Ramotar said, though disappointed that the Local Government Elections will not be held at month end, the PPP is willing to work together with the main Opposition to make sure that all the bottlenecks are cleared and the voting can take place as early as possible.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, at his Robb Street, Georgetown Freedom House headquarters on Tuesday, Ramotar said, very clearly, there is a need for the renewal of local democracy and this was evident last week when two days of heavy rain raised issues in Georgetown and some villages.
“However, I understand the position of the Government, in trying to avoid controversy in elections processes whether they be national or local government,” Ramotar said.
He continued: “I think we have to work within the Select Committee (of Parliament) which has been established. As you know, we were trying to do our best to have these Local Government Elections. We pushed through the elections bills so that the Elections Commission can do their work.
“The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) was objecting. It was true that there was agreement that we will put all five bills together. But, because we never envisaged that it would have taken so long to do this work and, because of that, we were trying to push the bills through as fast as possible and you know that the PNCR walked out of the Special Select Committee. They were not participating in the Special Select Committee.
“However, now I hope that they will participate and we can work together and come to a consensus on the remaining legislation that is to be passed,” Ramotar stated.
Last month, President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that that the parties will be making one last attempt to resolve issues regarding the Local Government Elections legislation.
He said the PPP/C has agreed to one last attempt at bringing closure to the outstanding pieces of reform legislation, in Parliament, for the hosting of Local Government Elections.

RELUCTANCE
The Head of State disclosed that the agreement was met with high degree of reluctance by his party members as the elections are long overdue.
“We want to set a climate where we go to elections in 2011 with very little controversy,” President Jagdeo said.
In a recent meeting with him, the Opposition PNCR party members made known their unwillingness to participate in the upcoming elections without the successful passage of the pieces of reform legislation.
President Jagdeo said he, however, reminded the Opposition of the long absence of the elections and the fervent but unsuccessful efforts, of the Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform, to arrive at a consensus.
“That is why we had to take this necessary step, to move to the Parliament to pass the legislation that was necessary to conduct the Local Government Elections whilst we are working on the other bits of legislation. We don’t want to have further delay,” he said.
Local Government Elections were last held in 1994 and, following calls for reform of the local government structure, a task force, comprising members of the Government and Opposition, was established to examine the changes needed and make recommendations.
But, after agreeing on two of the four areas identified for reform, the Co-Chairman, Mr. Clinton Collymore halted the discussions and declared a stalemate in April 2009.
Then, talks between President Jagdeo and Opposition Leader, Mr. Robert Corbin, led to a settlement of the issue and the Bills were tabled in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, most of the preparatory work for the elections has been done by Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), including production of National Identification Cards (ID cards), the National Register of Registrants and the fingerprint cross-matching exercise.
Many local government bodies are not functioning, resulting in a breakdown in governance at that level.