Collymore charges one-seat majority holding government to ransom
ADVISER to the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Clinton Collymore said on Wednesday that the delay in holding local government elections is not the fault of the government. Delivering the feature address at a local government conference, he declared the elections are now in the hands of the “people with the one-seat majority.”
The event, organised by the Local Government Ministry at its Fort Street, Kingston, Georgetown headquarters, was intended to train staff in the local government sector in all of the administrative regions.
Training for overseers and assistant overseers began last week as part of the ministry’s plan to embark on a massive programme, and functioning officers in the ministry are also being trained.
District Development Officers, Assistant Regional Executive Officers and Regional Development Officers also participated in the process, which began yesterday and ends today. Addressing them, Collymore said the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill have already been assented to, but the Fiscal Transfer Bill 2009 is with the Select Committee of the National Assembly.
There is currently no movement towards the conduct of the polls, because the Fiscal Transfer Bill is “locked down” (in) Parliament, he said.
Collymore stated: “While we want local government elections this year, I am not here to tell you that, yes, we will have them. We have to deal with those people who have the one-seat majority. They have the bill holding us to ransom.

Not aware
“Many people who are not aware of the reality want to know why it is (that) we can’t hold the elections now, last year, or the year before. I submitted this bill (Fiscal Transfer) since 2009, but it couldn’t be held. Elections were supposed to be held in 2010. Then general elections had to be prepared for, (and the bill) had to be stood down,” he pointed out.
Collymore maintained that unless these bills are ready, local government elections cannot be held. He insisted: “The Government is not to blame. We were ready since 2005, and we were ready again in 2009. There are also two other administrative bills in the National Assembly. We want the bills still in the House to come out. Unless the bills come out of the Select Committee, this situation will remain.”
Recently, Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Ganga Persaud said his ministry could not unilaterally decide on the holding of the polls, but support must come from the “political will” and Parliament in passing the remaining legislation.
At a press conference, Minister Ganga Persaud had reminded that when such elections were held in 1994, most of the persons who had put themselves up for office had in mind a three-year period.
Because of a number of circumstances, however, the elections which were constitutionally due in 1997 have remained due. “So we are hoping that, this year, we can have the elections held,” the minister said.