The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), in a blistering statement, is calling on President Irfaan Ali to honour the Laws of Guyana, and in this specific case, the Municipal and District Councils Act, Cap 28:01.
The Congress noted that Cap 28:01, Section 18 ‘Oath of Office’ stipulates: “The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor shall, before performing any of the functions of their respective offices, take before the President an oath of office in form set out in the Second Schedule.”
It is a shame, disgrace and violation that so many weeks after the Local Government Elections (LGE), which were held on June 12, 2023, and results declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), that the mayors and deputy mayors, who were elected, have not yet been sworn in and therefore cannot legally function, the Union frets.
In an invited comment, GTUC General Secretary, Mr. Lincoln Lewis, said never before in the history of local government has a president engaged in such flagrant violation of the law. According to Lewis, the President has no excuse for not discharging his responsibility under the law and he must find time on his schedule to fix the anomaly.
The federation, in firing a warning about the situation, said none of the newly elected mayor and deputy has the authority to function in the said role and if they do so they would be setting a dangerous precedent.
Contending that silence is not an option to present situation, the GTUC said participating in this illegality that has been foisted on this nation by President Ali and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) regime, would be encouraging and setting a dangerous precedent, and communicating to society support for the decline in good governance, and contempt for the Rule of Law.
“Those whom the confidence of the citizenry of the various towns has reposed must take a stand and demand the Constitution and Laws of Guyana be upheld. It matters whether elected on a PPP slate or A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). The laws are universal and apply to all and all must treat these as sacrosanct.”
The GTUC has therefore called on the elected mayors and deputies not to allow themselves to be lured in acts of lawlessness and to be mindful that they have no legal instrument to perform duties in said roles. To those who have taken it upon themselves to function without said instrument, they are being urged by the congress to cease such function immediately and demand that they be legally sworn in to perform their duties.
Turning attention to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Aubrey Norton, GTUC has called on him to send a strident message to the President to uphold the laws.
“The GTUC further calls on Mr. Aubrey Norton, Leader of the Opposition, and Chairman of the partnership (APNU) that contested the LGE to make a clear and strident call to President Ali to uphold the Laws.”
The confounded illegality must stop, GTUC warned.
