“Come out of your offices” – Min Parag tells NDC officials

– urges them to be visible, proactive in executing duties

Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) officials across Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) were on Friday urged to be visible and proactive in executing their duties.
The call was issued by Local Government and Regional Development Minister Sonia Parag during a one-day training workshop aimed at retooling the officials with the skills needed to execute their function effectively.
According to Parag, recently, the government received numerous complaints about community representatives’ inability to address issues affecting their constituencies, with some citizens even stating that they are not aware of who their councillors or overseers are.
“You can’t sit in your office and decide that you know how to fix a problem or somebody comes to your office and describes a scenario and you understand it. Come out of your office. It’s a lot of you on the council, visit the community… It’s amazing what you can discover and it’s amazing how the people you will not be able to engage with at a bottom house can come out there and explain to you when you are on the ground to see what happening. It gives you a first-hand experience and it gives you an idea of how you can help far better than sitting in your office,” Parag instructed.

It is with this in mind that the Minister is to reeducate these officials and remind them of their responsibilities as stipulated in the Local Democratic Organs Act 12 of 1980.
The training focused on financial management and accountability to promote and maintain transparency and good governance across all Local Democratic Organs.
The Minister explained that the initiative’s primary aim is to reinforce the importance of community engagements, which is lacking in the regional system.
“This training is to allow you the opportunity to strengthen and possibly reveal to your roles and functions that you didn’t know that you possess or you didn’t know you’re supposed to carry out in this particular way. So, it is to give you that capacity to carry out your duty in the best way possible with the resources that you have to ensure satisfaction in the communities,” she explained.
Further, Parag instructed the NDC Councillors and Overseers to get their offices in order, starting with the timely submission of monthly reports and minutes of meetings.
Underscoring the importance of accountability and transparency, she added that the government will no longer tolerate mismanagement and disorderly conduct among officials.
“Let us pay keen attention to transparency and accountability because it is very easy for those who hold offices to slack off and to be accused of many things. And so, we must at all times again understand that the people hold you accountable. So, everything you have a statutory meeting just don’t do things routinely do meaningful things… You cannot gain the confidence or maintain the confidence of the residents if you do not appear steady with transparency and accountability,” the Local Government and Regional Development Minister said
Neighbourhood Democratic Councillors upon election are tasked with managing and providing services to individuals within small geographic areas while Overseers are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the office and assisting in the execution of the council’s decisions.
Community services include sanitation, garbage disposal, road/dam maintenance, market facilities, burial grounds and drainage, among others.