.jpg)
He highlighted at a media briefing yesterday that the way is now clear for Guyana to hold local government elections with ease; but he was unable to give a definitive date by when this would occur.
Minister Persaud pointed out that there would be an in–house session within the coming week to brief the staff of the LGRD Ministry, as well as deal with questions and queries which they have regarding the matter.
He said that now that the local government reform process would have been completed, the rest would be determined by the rules and regulations of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which had indicated, a few days ago via press release, that the minimum time it requires to prepare to hold any election is six months, hence the actual elections would be held by early 2014.
The minister related that the task force dealing with local government elections and the bills had commenced work in 2012, and then had sent its work to a select committee, where everything would have been presented. He said that Government has minority representation on that committee; nevertheless, in the national interest, Government did all in its power to advance the work of that special select committee, keeping its work within the applicable legal framework and opposing every attempt to cause the Government to move away from the existing legislation, or offending them in any way.
Nevertheless, because of its minority status on that committee, Government would have had to condone certain things.
He explained that, in the process, there were some instances when the majority vote was taken, and hence some of the things presented in the bills were unacceptable.
The Government would have worked faithfully with the select committee to have that committee’s work properly completed; but, all of the work that that committee would have done was supposed to have been completed in the Ninth Parliament.
In explaining the pieces of legislation that were passed, Persaud said that with regard to the Fiscal Transfer Bill, which would influence how Government would provide subvention support, Mr. Vincent Alexander and Mr Navin Chandarpal, who were both members of the joint Local Government Task Force, were invited by the special select committee to make presentations regarding the way forward.
The Bill addresses the equitable provision of resources to the various local government organs, and provides for them to generate their own revenue.
The Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill updates the fines, fees and other charges within the municipalities. He said that each Neighbourhood Democratic Council would receive its subvention, and a formula would be implemented at the top of the municipality to ensure the proper use and provision of the subvention to the NDCs and municipalities.
This formula allows governmental support to the 65 neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs) and six existing municipalities.
However, he noted that the Georgetown municipality is treated differently when compared to the other local government organs.
He said the NDCs and municipalities will be forced to work closer with residents within their respective districts to ensure services are delivered to residents and residents make payments to the responsible authorities in a timely manner. He deemed it one big challenge, but said the LGRD Ministry is happy that things have come to this head.
Regarding the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill 2012, Minister Persaud said that the main purpose of this bill is to amend the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01, so as to revise the provision for municipal councils.
The debating and fixture of this bill involved the participation of Government representatives Gail Teixeira, Neil Kumar and Bibi Shaddick, and others from the opposition benches. He pointed out that this amended bill seeks to upgrade various fines, fees and charges instituted against the persons responsible for breaking by-laws. He said this is a request often made by the local government authorities.
This bill will provide opportunities for greater services to be generated and provided to residents across the municipalities; and additionally, it would provide a motivational pull for local authorities to enforce their by-laws and maintain strict law and order.
He said the Local Government Amendment Bill faced many controversial issues, each becoming more complicated than its predecessor. The opposition sought to play into the discourse certain sections of Chapter 28:02 of the laws, but this is a bill that is intended to amend the Local Government Act.
The Local Government (Amendment) Bill is to include the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in the local government system, whilst making consequential amendments and increasing penalties in a number of areas.
The Local Government Commission Bill is, in total, an act to establish the commission as catered for by Article 78 (a) of the constitution, to provide for the commission’s functions and procedure and for connected and incidental purposes.
The Local Government Commission Bill has the power to deal with all matters relating to the regulation and staffing of local government organs, and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs; specifically monitoring and reviewing the performance, and implementation of policies of all local government organs, amongst other things.
The Commission also has power to initiate and conduct investigations into the activities of any local government organ.
That commission will seek to take care of human resource issues.
According to the minister, the Government would have recognised risks, which were shared but not accepted by the opposition.
He pointed out that this bill is a work in progress, but parliamentarians need to spend more time listening to each other regarding this matter.
Minister Persaud concluded that Guyana could consider itself fully prepared for local government elections.
