THE Local Government Ministry says it will be implementing strategies to enhance its services to the citizenry that fall under the various municipalities.
This was announced by Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud and Minster within the Local Government Ministry, Norman Whittaker, who both highlighted that the changes will be seen within the coming year.
Speaking during a press briefing at that Ministry’s Headquarters in Kingston, Georgetown, Minister Persaud pointed out that this is a main focus of the Ministry for 2012.
He said more efforts will be put into ensuring the Ministry’s objectives are achieved.
“What we will seek to do, as we are doing presently, we are taking an inventory of our human resource capacity, and over the next couple of weeks leading into the New Year, we will seek to place our human resources in areas so that we can maximize their potential, thus enhancing what we do at the Ministry,” he said.
He noted that the Ministry will also seek to extend collaboration with other ministries and agencies, especially the Housing and Water Ministry, to hand over a number of housing schemes from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) to municipalities and National Democratic Councils.
This, he noted, will create an additional avenue for revenue collection.
Mr. Persaud said training will be another focus for his ministry for 2012.
He pointed out that steps are already being taken to install the councils while offering the necessary training so as to attain effectiveness among members.
“We are prepared to install these councils and, at the same time, to offer the necessary training, briefing and guidance to council members, so that they can function as effective members of their respective Regional Democratic Councils,” Persaud added.
He said monitoring will also be enhanced to ensure progress.

APPOINTMENT OF REGIONAL OFFICIALS
Further, he told the media that the Local Government Ministry is currently awaiting the go-ahead from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to appoint regional chairmen and other officials for the ten Regional Democratic Councils.
He explained that the political parties that won seats in the various regions during the November 28 regional elections were required to submit the names of their representatives to the Chief Elections Officer.
Persaud said once these figures are submitted, the government will be notified and steps will be taken thereafter to begin the appointment process.
“We are unaware as to how many parties would have submitted already, and so as soon as those submissions are made, the government would be notified and then we will move towards having those councils installed. We’re hoping that that can be done very early in the New Year,” the Minister noted.
In the just-concluded regional elections, the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic won Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9; while the PNC/R-led A Partnership for National Unity won Regions 4, 7 and 10; and the Alliance For Change (AFC) won Region 8.