Dear Editor,
THE rights and freedoms of people are enshrined in the systemic framework of democracy that has formed the global acceptance platform for most states. Consequently, most of the global population and the relationships between citizens and their various governments have been developed along the tenets of this acceptable platform. Central to the foregoing is the fact that Guyana through our Constitution has long supported this approach with continuous improvements to local and international positions since.

Several principal pillars are key to the evolution of Guyana’s internal framework at the local level, the building of which serves to ratify international commitments, support the realisation of benefits and reinforce deserving rights. The Local Democratic Act No. 12 of 1980 from which the system evolved, was introduced to formally identify the Local Government System as the foundation of the Democratic Organisation of the state. To foster development in the communities by the communities, the country was divided into 10 administrative regions, which were further subdivided into sub-regions, districts, communities, neighborhoods, and People’s Cooperative Units, with specific responsibilities.

In 2009, legislation was enacted to change the system of elections in the Local Authority Areas. The Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Act No.26 of 2009, along with subsequent amendments in 2015, provides for Local Government Elections to be held in nine municipalities and 62 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) throughout Guyana using a hybrid system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-the-Post. This hybrid system provides opportunities for voluntary groups, political parties, and individuals to contest for seats in the municipalities and NDCs.

GECOM must follow and implement the elections system in accordance with the existing legal positions to ensure the objectivity of the intent of our Constitution is attained. Given the unacceptable fracas following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, it is understood that necessary corrective mechanisms had to be put in place to assure acceptable results and prevent abuses.

To this end, GECOM must be commended for releasing the Revised List of Electors (RLE) for the public to scrutinise. After this exercise, GECOM will produce the Official List of Electors which will eventually lead to the production of the Official List of Voters for the holding of Local Government Elections.

Voluntary groups and independent individuals are expected to contest this most interesting Local Government Elections. However, the individual contestants should not allow themselves to be used as political footballs to contest in the interest of any political party. The widest cross-section of our people should make sure to play a lead role in the development of their respective communities. Hence, it is expected that well-established community leaders will encourage younger persons to contest the LGEs; women, religious leaders, and other prominent persons should take the opportunity to be part of their community development.

There are serious challenges in many Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and municipalities. Over the period since the last LGEs, all the NDCs and municipalities are depleted because of the serious loss of elected members. On many occasions, meetings are cancelled because of a lack of quorum. In many instances, required services to residents have been attenuated, while the people’s representation at the grassroots level is paramount for informing the required areas for improvement. Further, the holding of LGEs will allow the communities to carefully nominate men and women who are prepared to serve their communities

Our people must participate in the LGEs, particularly our young people must get involved to preserve our young and growing democracy. While Guyana is on the rise, we must develop a nation with brilliant young minds who will say no to racism and never allow anybody to divide us. The empowerment and involvement of people at the community and village levels at the various tiers, will serve as drivers to harmonise the distribution of benefits from national government programmes, thereby leaving no community behind.

In essence, one must recognise that while the PPP/C Government is certainly doing a great job to develop the country at the national and international levels, it is imperative that the various levels of our democracy also be more involved in the process of development.

Parallel democratic policies and supporting pillars must be used to uphold and sustain the crest, which we strive to attain. In this respect, the holding of LGEs, in which there is meaningful involvement, is certainly an empowering catalyst and the most significant conduit to ensuring local democracy and development.

Certainly, the strengthening of our local democracy through these elections will give our people at the grass-root levels an opportunity to work together and strengthen development at the community level.

Our local democracy must be more inclusive and this will bring tremendous development and build unity. Let us use the upcoming LGEs to ensure that citizens at the local or ground level are fully prepared for the further development of the country.

Consequently, the opportunity must be taken to refresh the community leadership, especially where areas are suffering from attrition due to unavoidable circumstances, or have become weak and urgently need to be resuscitated through these elections.

As Guyana gets into full gear for LGEs, the entire nation must be fully involved. The way forward to the 2023 LGEs is clear and most welcome.

Yours respectfully,
Neil Kumar.