…calls made for councillors to resign — PPP, AFC reps
The functioning of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) has been affected by far-too-frequent absenteeism of councillors from meetings; and those councillors who regularly attend meetings of the RDC are appealing to absentee councillors to resign and give others a chance to serve.
Region Six Chairman, David Armogan
The call has been made by councillors from both the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), since more than 70 per cent of councillors have been absenting themselves from RDC meetings.
This Region Six RDC has 30 seats, 19 being held by the PPP and 11 by the coalition APNU/AFC. During the last RDC meeting, held on Thursday last, for most of the proceedings, only two APNU/AFC councillors from the AFC faction were present, and an APNU councillor strolled in towards the end of the meeting.
Region Six Chairman David Armogan and several PPP councillors have expressed disappointment at the attitude of some of the coalition councillors towards the RDC’s functioning. This trend of absenteeism, which started at the turn of the year, has reportedly worsened every month when RDC meetings are held.
Armogan has accused APNU/AFC councillors of being inefficient, declaring they have not been bringing ideas to the table, while often being hesitant to debate topics.
“The Government side doesn’t seem interested in representing anybody. We were expecting that ideas would come from the Government side, because that is the side that has the money and the power; so a lot of ideas should come from the coalition side to be implemented in the region, to make things better for the people of the region. Unfortunately, nothing is coming from them, and they are even debating what is coming from the PPP,” Armogan said.
He publicly declared that all councillors have an obligation to push Government’s policies, but said Government’s representatives on the RDC should be pushing more to ensure that those policies are implemented. He thus said he was looking forward to more of an input from the Government side of the house.
Even as the AFC side of the house has lashed out at the lack of attendance of coalition councillors at RDC meetings, coalition councillor Gobin Harbhajan has also lashed out at his colleagues, calling for them to perform or do the honourable thing.
Harbhajan reminded the RDC that councillors should automatically lose their seats after being absent for three consecutive meetings without a valid excuse. He said there are others who should be given a chance to serve.
He told the RDC that he was disappointed with the actions of his colleagues. “I believe these councillors were put here to represent the people and their constituencies,” he declared.
Harbhajan also noted that at the recent meeting held to discuss the regional proposed budget for 2019, only a few coalition councillors showed up. That meeting was held on July 28, and only four coalition councillors were present. Harbhajan said all of them should have been present.
On Thursday, at the RDC meeting, Harbhajan told the house that if the coalition councillors are not attending meetings, they should resign and give others a chance to serve.
Harbhajan, the Prime Ministerial Regional Representative, has been taking a hard line whenever his political colleagues are fingered in questionable transactions. He has also been vocal against corruption in Region Six, and has been criticised publically be many of his colleagues for his stance on corruption.
In an invited comment, Harbhajan told Guyana Times that the coalition councillors who do not attend meetings are “selfish.”
He noted that counsellors on the Government side should be at all RDC meetings to push for Government’s policies to be implemented.
