– LGC and NDCs still plagued with staffing & financial challenges

OVERSEERS and Assistant Overseers of the respective Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), are slated to undergo training by the Local Government Commission (LGC) to standardise the systems being used at the various Local Government Organs (LGOs).

This was related by Chairman of the LGC, Julius Faerber, during an interview with the Sunday Chronicle earlier this week, when he spoke on some of the Commission’s plans for the remainder of the year.
“We are preparing to have training done very shortly with our overseers and assistant overseers in all ten administrative regions,” he noted.

He added, “We are looking to have that started within another week; it is so that we can have standardization across the entire country and not just one NDC doing things differently from the other NDCs, which is what we’ve found.”

At the NDC, overseers are the head of the administrative arm of the NDCs and, similar to the Town Clerks at the municipalities, are responsible for carrying out the day to day functioning of the NDCs. Guyana has 70 NDCs across the ten administrative regions.

Each NDC covers a small geographic area within each region and is tasked with responsibility for the management and administration of these areas within its boundaries. Councillors are elected at Local Government Elections, with the number of Councillors elected ranging from 12 to 30, depending on the size of the population within the NDC. The Overseer assists in the execution of the council’s decisions.

The country also has 10 municipalities, including Georgetown, for which the LGC also manages the administrative staff.
Faerber related that the training for the administrative heads of the NDCs comes following visits that the Commission made to the NDCs during various outreaches across the country last year.

“We held meeting the staff of every NDC and every Town Council letting them understand the role and function of the Commission. As well as for them to understand their role and function towards the LGC. That was one of our biggest achievement in meeting out to those local democratic organs,” Faerber said.

“They were happy, that is why we are going back now in the second round to have training done at that level. They said with the last Commission that was formed they have never seen any of the other Commissioners out in the field. They are happy that we are there to give advice and guidance to them which makes them stronger in terms of delivery of their work.”

Even as the LGC works to train the existing staff at the NDCs, it is also working on the recruitment of further staff to fill several existing vacancies at the various LGOs. Faerber noted that advertisements have already gone out to procure the necessary personnel.

“There are quite a number of vacancies especially in the Town Councils areas and so we are looking to have those vacancies filled as well, very shortly,” Faerber said.

However, even as the LGO grapple with staffing challenges, the LGC is also dealing with its own issues in that area.

“Some of the biggest challenges we have faced is staffing. We do not have the required amount of staff to deal with all of the local democratic organs that we have. Some departments are manned by two or three persons. For example, our auditing department has to audit 70 NDCs and ten municipalities but you only have three staff, which is practically impossible, those are some of the challenges we have,” Faerber related.

To deal with the challenges, Faerber noted that the Commission has been engaging with central government.
“We have been discussing it with the relevant authorities, such as the Minister [of Local Government and Regional Development], etcetera, to see how they are able to help us in that direction. We have challenges at the LGC but, suffice to say, the challenges we have we are trying our best to ensure that the work is being done. Even if we have to go an extra mile or two,” Faerber said.

Faerber noted that the NDCs are still also dealing with financial issues pertaining to revenue collection through rates and taxes, and having sufficient revenue to carry out the various activities within their area.