APNU kicks off LGE campaign
At the APNU campaign launch Friday at Congress Place are, from left: Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan; Party Chairman, President David Granger; Social Protection Minister and PNCR General-Secretary, Amna Ally; and Minister of State and APNU General- Secretary, Joseph Harmon (Photo by Adrian Narine)
At the APNU campaign launch Friday at Congress Place are, from left: Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan; Party Chairman, President David Granger; Social Protection Minister and PNCR General-Secretary, Amna Ally; and Minister of State and APNU General- Secretary, Joseph Harmon (Photo by Adrian Narine)

– hoping to win seats in 76 of 80 LAAs

THE A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) party will be contesting in 76 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) here when Local Government Elections (LGEs) are held come November 12, 2018.

The four Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) in which they will not be contesting are one each in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and two in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

The five-party coalition, which holds the majority of seats in the APNU+AFC government, made the announcement on Friday when it launched its LGE campaign at party headquarters, Congress Place in suburban Sophia.

As party chairman, President David Granger observed at the launch, with local government being an essential element of public administration, the APNU will do everything in its powers to safeguard local democracy in this country.

“APNU believes in giving people the power to determine how the services and resources that affect their everyday lives will be used,” President Granger said, while noting that this could only be achieved if there are harmonious relationships between all tiers of governance, be it central, regional or local.

He said the APNU has been actively involved in communities across the country, and has been working to address many of their issues.

“The partnership is embedded in all of the local government areas, and with the people’s cooperation, it is solving problems that affect their everyday lives,” he said, adding:
“More local authority areas now have street lights, potable water supply and all-weather roads for the first time in human memory.”

Responding to a series of questions from reporters, the president noted that all of the parties represented in the coalition will be actively involved in the campaign. Those parties are the People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNCR), the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the Justice for All Party (JAP), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the National Front Alliance (NFA).

He assured his audience that the candidates representing the APNU in the mixed system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-the Post will be selected by residents of the various LAAs; that “there is no pro-rata” or “allocation of seats.”

Weighing in on the issue, Social Protection Minister and PNCR General-Secretary Amna Ally, pointed out that in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), primaries have already been held to elect the constituency candidates for the LGEs.

DEMOCRACY AT WORK
“The members of the constituencies exercise their right by going and vote for whoever they would like to represent them at the Local Government Elections, so democracy is at work,” Ally told reporters.

Meanwhile, APNU officials have put to rest speculation that the Alliance For Change (AFC)’s bid to contest the Local Government Elections independently will adversely affect their party’s chances.

“We will continue to campaign among the various constituencies and municipalities, but the very nature of Local Government Elections is that people themselves should decide,” she said.

While stating that the APNU respects the AFC’s decision to go it alone, its chairman explained that the positions put forward by the alliance collided with some of the principles of the five-party coalition with regard to the Local Government Elections. However, he made it clear that the decision will not jeopardise the APNU+AFC coalition, which was formed under the Cummingsburg Accord in the lead-up to the General and Regional Elections.

Civil Groups such as the Bartica Independence Green Alliance (BIGA) and Team Legacy have been absorbed by the APNU and the Alliance For Change (AFC), and while the APNU chairman could not indicate how many of those groups have joined the APNU to contest the upcoming elections, he said there is a role for major parties in an election such as this.
“In conducting countrywide elections, you need an organisation, and that organisation strengthens democracy; it doesn’t weaken democracy,” he posited while explaining, “We encourage people who do not belong to the APNU, but who share our ideals to come in and work with us and campaign.”

On the developmental front, the chairman said APNU is cognisant of the local needs of the various Local Authority Areas, noting that it was as a result of the issues raised by citizens that led the APNU+AFC government, through the Ministry of Communities to convene the National Conference of Local Democratic Organs (NCDLO) last July.

“So we have also moved the debate above the level of the councils, so there is now a national body which can inform the Ministry of Communities in terms of crafting the annual budget to ensure that the neighbourhoods get better funding,” he explained.

NDCs and municipalities, he said, are also being encouraged to raise funding from corporate citizens to foster further development within their communities. While APNU officials addressed various aspects of their campaign, they did not disclose the sources of their finance to run off the campaign or the budgeted amount, though the question was put.

APNU General-Secretary and Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan; Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence and Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing, Valerie Adams Yearwood, were among the other officials present.

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