AFTER more than two decades of delays, Local Government Elections (LGE) will be held within the first quarter of 2016.This announcement was made yesterday by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, who was at the time addressing a workshop for local government organs at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. He explained that this is part and parcel of the administration’s commitment for an effective local government system.

Political will

Underscoring that the political will was missing to implement LGE, Minister Bulkan said that “this administration is committed to move forward in a different direction and in this regard, the ministry is actively engaged and is part of the process of building capacity of the councils and to provide institutional strength and to equip and empower them and ensure their revenue base is sufficient to allow for their financial independence and their general economy in the management of their affairs.”

EARLIEST DATE

Bulkan noted that the LGE will result in new councils with new energy, new enthusiasm and with the zeal arising from the confidence that would be placed in them by citizens. He also disclosed that orders have been given to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to provide the earliest date which will be announced in the new week.
The Communities Minister explained that “…. two Orders are to identify the participating Local Democratic Organs which are now allowed for nine municipalities and 62 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) as well as the composition of the councils and a separate Order identifying the boundaries of the respective democratic organs.”

He continued: “It now paves the way for administrative necessity for which there is a third order naming the date of the elections. In that regard, I am awaiting a definitive response from GECOM to be told what is the earliest date by which those elections could be held, given the fact that these administrative requirements are all in place, but I believe in the new week a date can be named.”

He explained that local government is a vital level of public administration, because it deals with people’s daily lives in their communities. Citizens from local communities depend on their locally elected representatives to ensure towns, municipalities and villages are effectively managed to ensure clean environments, street lights, maintenance of roads, streets, drainage canals and playgrounds. These attributes will contribute to a “Good Life” for residents.
TOO LONG
Minister Bulkan emphasised that Guyanese citizens have been waiting for too long to elect new councillors to the municipalities and NDCs. Elections are important because they are a democratic and constitutional right. He added that most councils that were democratically elected in 1994 have been replaced by PPP government-appointed members and had become dysfunctional by 2014. The PPP/C administration had shown little interest in empowering the people to enable them to exercise greater control over their daily lives.
Meanwhile, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2015 which was passed earlier this year gives financial independence to Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities across the country, an area that is aggressively being pushed by the new administration.
President David Granger had made it clear that LGE remained a top priority of his government, in the face of growing local and international pressure.
Local government reforms had started back in the late 1990s, following political standoffs as a result of the stormy 1997 General and Regional Elections.

CARICOM had intervened, resulting in what is known as the Herdmanston Accord, which called for a number of reforms including LGE. The last one was held in 1994. Under the reforms, NDCs and municipalities in addition to being empowered to deal with their own revenues will be able to penalise defaulters in the area of drainage.
Bulkan believes that the opposition is fearful of losing control of the NDCs and other local government organs which will become independent. He noted that local government is a partner of central government. It is not an adversary or even subordinate. Its role and authority are defined and protected by the Constitution of Guyana.

FULL OPERATIONAL MODE

Meanwhile, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday confirmed that the secretariat of the elections body is now in full operational mode for the conduct of Local Government Elections (LGE).
According to GECOM “…given the current work plan of the GECOM Secretariat, Local Government Elections can be held no earlier than Monday March 14,2016 and no later than May 29,2016.”
The electoral body in a press release stated that this change in gear was caused by the issuance of several related Orders by the Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan.
These Orders included “Order No. 23 of 2015 on Friday 23-Oct-2015 which identifies nine towns and 62 NDCs where Local Government Elections (LGE) will be held. This Order allows the Elections Commission to extract the voters’ list for the identified areas for Local Government Elections from the current National Register of Registrants (NRR).”
The fully constituted Elections Commission with all members present, sitting at its Statutory Meeting held on Tuesday 22-Sep-2015, had already unanimously decided that the qualifying date to be used for the extraction of the voters’ list will be 29-Feb-2016.
The electoral body noted that the appointment of the specific date within this period as “Election Day” is still to be made by another Ministerial Order.
CLAIMS AND OBJECTIONS PERIOD
Following the extraction of the Preliminary Lists of Voters for all local government areas, eligible voters are invited to fully utilise the Claims and Objections (C&O) period to scrutinise, sanitise and update these lists. During this Claims and Objections period, which will now commence on 09-Nov-2015, persons who will be 18 years and over as at 29-Feb-2016 will be allowed to make claims to have their registration recorded at the address in the constituency where they live, either as new registrants or by transfer. In addition, they will be allowed to make objections to entries in the list on which their names appear, which they know do not represent persons who actually live in their respective constituencies. Other transactions such as corrections to the recorded particulars of eligible voters and change of name, supported by the appropriate source documents, will also be permitted during this period.
To facilitate this C&O exercise, a total of 153 offices will be established across all the local government areas identified for Local Government Elections. Lists will be posted in each electoral division in these areas and in accordance with the relevant constituencies.
The offices will be open for business Monday thru Friday from 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm and from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays during the Claims and Objections period.
GECOM urges all eligible voters to make full use of this period to ensure a credible electoral roll is produced. Eligible voters should look out for frequent GECOM publications in the print, electronic and social media in addition to flyers, posters and banners providing more details and updated information as the time approaches.
Training
Scores of persons earlier this month took part in a two-day training exercise coordinated and executed by the GECOM.
The exercise was designed to comprehensively train persons identified to work as Returning Officers and other field staff, to effectively and carefully manage the conduct of Local Government Elections.
Over the two days of training, participants were expected to develop an appreciation for and understanding of the organsational structure that will be used to facilitate the conduct of the Local Government Elections processes.
In addition, the participants were given guidelines on how to develop proper strategies to effectively make the necessary preparations for the conduct of Local Government Elections, and to bring closure to the exercise.
Participants were also expected to acquaint themselves with the necessary steps involved in individuals casting ballots, and were also trained in properly dealing with the different types of electors.
Moreover, they were also exposed to the various forms and envelopes used during Local Government Elections, and were taught thoroughly and correctly the accurate methods of completing these forms and envelopes. Training exercises were held at locations in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

By Rabindra Rooplall