Corriverton municipality moving to update by-laws

The Mayor and Town Council of Corriverton, Berbice wants to update the laws governing the municipality, and is, therefore, seeking Central Government’s support.

“We inherited a set of problems that only legislative reform can fix” were the sentiments expressed by Corriverton’s Mayor, Ganesh Gangadin, according to a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA).

The Mayor is of the view that tackling the town’s outdated laws and the implementation of new ones are essential for the modernisation of the municipality.

Under the law, municipalities’ councils must have their own building by-laws, which would provide residents with a guide on how they should build. Gangadin said that such a by-law was never completed in New Amsterdam, and the municipality has been heavily reliant on the building guidelines set out in the Health Ordinance Act.

He explained that in trying to prosecute some offenders in the past, the Magistrate’s Court threw out some good cases brought by the Council because of the fact that the municipality did not have its own building by-laws.

He said too that Corriverton was seeking to address this, but “at present we are a bit short; we do not have the technical capacity to handle it”.

In this regard, the town is seeking help from Central Government. He explained that it was requested that legal support be provided to the municipality through the Communities Ministry for the crafting of the town’s building by-laws.

Also on the municipality’s legislative agenda is the crafting of other new pieces of laws, including one on solid waste.

Gangadin said: “We don’t want to take away anything from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but if we have our own Act, we can prosecute and the fines remain in our council.”

The Mayor further noted that through such an Act, the municipality would be able to address implementation of more modern practices in the town’s garbage collection and disposal system.

The municipality is also seeking support on the Scavenger Act. Gangadin explained that under the Scavenger Act, if a person is found guilty of a particular offence, he or she would be fined a meagre $80. He said that owing to this paltry fine, importance was not placed on pursuing cases in court, so it needed to be changed immediately.

The Corriverton Mayor also said that in order for the municipality to move forward, “violators would have to be sent a serious message”.