– former IMC chair warns against not holding Local Government Elections
By Vanessa Braithwaite
“We must never go back to the period where everything has to go to the centre. There must be continuity of the process of local democracy, through Local Government Elections,” this is the sentiment shared by former Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the municipality of Linden, Orrin Gordon. For 13 years, Gordon served as Chairman and had firsthand experience on what the centralised system, initiated by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), meant for towns, neighbourhoods and villages. His comments came after President Irfaan Ali posited that LGE would not be held until GECOM is fixed. This declaration was met with strong rebuttal by the Opposition warning that stringent action will be taken, if LGE is not held in 2021, as constitutionally stipulated.
Gordon has experience on both sides of the coin; as an IMC Chairman and as a Regional Executive Officer (REO), during the period when strides were made by the Coalition to return local democracy to the management of the affairs of RDCs, Municipalities and NDCs.
Growing up in a East Coast village, Gordon said he is accustomed to regular elections even at the level of the Village Councils and what was forced on to the nation in 1994, when the PPPC Government dissolved elected councils countrywide and replaced them with IMCs, was not only a breach of the constitution, but affected the development of communities and the municipality of Linden suffered. “For a very long time people lost their feelings of what it is to manage their own affairs, if you would not have been in a system where there is renewal of local democracy and that is what the Coalition Government attempted to do, by pulling off two Local Government Elections, they attempted to foster and promote governance at the local level, where the people can select their leaders,” the former IMC Chairman related.
This process also created new municipalities and NDCs across the country such as Bartica, Mabaruma, Mahdia and Lethem.
Giving examples of how Linden suffered over the years, Gordon cited the numerous attempts of the Council under his tenure to increase rates and taxes which would further empower the council financially to provide the needed services to the residents. The rates have not increased since the 1950s and so residents are still paying less than $200 yearly. Gordon related that the Council submitted several proposals to the then Ministry of Local Government, for this to be rectified and each time they were met with resistance. The Council was basically powerless to act. “Everything was centralised, everything had to go to the centre, we were supposed to be more autonomous, we should have been able to make consultations with our people and move along, but we were not able to function independently,” Gordon argued, adding that the situation was the same with decisions relating to the toll booth, the Wismar/Mackenzie bridge and even with disciplining personnel internally. “If the centre said shake, you shake, if it said don’t shake, you don’t shake,” he said.
Value of LGE
Following the return of LGE, the disbanded Kara Kara toll booth was recommissioned. This along with other strides were made by the coalition to empower the municipality.
When local democracy returned, Gordon was then functioning as REO. Though in a different capacity and now managing an entire region, he said mechanisms were put in place, to ensure the minister does not usurp the powers of the local bodies. One of those mechanisms was the formation of the Local Government Commission. Gordon said he sincerely hopes that in the interest of democracy, the present regime does not dissolve the commission, thus returning to the days where the minister held onto all the power and there was no devolution of power at the local level. With the freedom to act independently as the REO, Gordon said he placed a lot of emphasis in the empowerment of hinterland and riverine communities within the region, which were neglected in times past. The Council under his stewardship, held a regional Toshaos Council, which saw the meeting of all the Toshaos from the Indigenious communities up the Berbice and Demerara River, to discuss issues of mutual interest and community development. He also ensured that these communities were empowered financially by utilising local content for community projects and residents benefiting from RDC contracts. None of his decisions was scrutinised or rebuffed by the then Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.
Concerns
Gordon joins the many voices that have already aired their concerns on the President’s statement. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon, lashed out at the government for signalling its intention to not hold LGE next.
The Constitution at Article 71 provides that Local Government is a vital aspect of democracy and shall be organised so as to involve as many people as possible in the task of managing and developing the communities in which they live. For this purpose, the said Article 71 of the Constitution also states that Parliament shall provide for a countrywide system of Local Government through the establishment of organs of local democratic power as an integral part of the political organization of the State.
Harmon sent a strong message to the PPP, stating that any effort to violate the constitution with impunity, will be met with serious resistance. “Before 2015 when APNU+AFC came into office we had 18 years without Local Government Elections. The PPP under its then Local Government Ministers, Ganga Persaud and Norman Whittaker, went around the country and dismissed elected NDC’s, installing in their places hand-picked Interim Management Committees (IMC’S). These IMC’s answered directly to Freedom House. We will have no more of that my dear Guyanese sisters and brothers. This will not be condoned,” Harmon affirmed.
He alleged that the PPP’s mission, is to push local democracy to the back seat so as to allow one element- Central Government, to wield authoritarian power on the Guyanese people. not to fix GECOM for the satisfaction of the Guyanese people, but to the satisfaction of the PPP. “LGE’s must be held so that communities can choose their leaders. What Irfaan Ali is proposing is again an abandonment of constitutionally guaranteed Local Government Elections which is critical to Democratic renewal. These are more compelling signs that the PPP regime is intent on going back to their days of dictatorship in Guyana. I am sending this clear signal to all who know their “ABC” alphabet and those with ears to hear, the people of Guyana will resist a dictatorship of the PPP. Local Government Elections must be held,” Harmon sternly warned.
