Consultative approach needed for modern administration – Granger

Reorganising the local govt system

President David Granger is calling on leaders from the various municipalities, Regional and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils to work together to achieve an efficient and effective public administrative system.
The Head of State made this charge at the opening of the second annual meeting of the National Regional Development Consultative Committee (NRDCC), which was held at the Marriott Hotel on Friday.

The event was held under the theme, “Strengthening regional governance through leadership and human resource development.”
In his feature address, President Granger posited that the move by his Government to decentralise the local Government system is being done against the backdrop of difficulties in accessing basis administrative services by citizens in remote regions.
“Government is continuously trying to strengthen the system of public administration by making each region administratively more resourceful, geographically and infrastructurally more integrated, economically more robust and depending on your efforts, demographically more populous,” he noted.
According to the President, the current system of administration was very slow to adapt to modernity and this has led to not only administrative deficiencies but great discomfort on the part of citizens in our population.
As such, he noted Government envisages that each region would possess its own capital town, which is necessary to deliver administrative services and to promote economic development. He wants to see public services and other amenities such as aerodromes, banks, chambers of commerce, courts, factories, hospitals, museums, radio and television stations, Police stations, schools, regional offices and so on, so as to drive independent commercial activities that would see it even attracting investors.

“A rich country cannot build on poor regions; rich regions require cooperation among the local government organs in order to ensure that they’re working towards the achievement of common goals,” he posited.
However, the Head of State outlined that this vision cannot be achieved without cooperation among all stakeholders.
“Government operates at three levels – local, regional and national – and all must work together if we are to achieve our achievements that we seek,” Granger asserted.
Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan had stated that the conference would allow for greater consultations and collaborations among the regions.
“(The President’s) call for regional development to be centred in the establishment of regional towns in which public, financial and economic services are satisfactorily delivered, demands a consultative corridor to be established to enable greater communication, calibration and coordination of national, regional and local policies and plans,” the Minister said.
He went on to say that the NRDCC is intended to serve as a mechanism for coordinating the developmental agenda of all three spheres of Government, while supporting the bottom up approach to democratic governance.
“Since the principle function of the NRDCC will be to facilitate collaborative financial planning and administration, it will allow for more accountability, more transparency for partnership for among key stakeholders and planning, which will aid in the effective delivery of public services throughout Guyana,” the Communities Minister stated.
The ceremonial opening of Friday’s conference was followed by the Business Session and Caucus Deliberation. During these, regional chairpersons (RCs) were required to detail policy directions and plans for future development of their RDC for the year; discuss specific issues of national importance and arrive at resolutions; report on challenges, lesson learnt and success stories and development in the region, and propose policy recommendation to strengthen the system of regional administration.
Additionally, the Business Session heard from RCs as to progress and timelines on: the renaming of the regions; implementing regional flags and symbols, and establishment of Capital towns in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica-Berbice).