Creating a conundrum for efficacy of NDCs (Part One)

Dear Editor,
It cannot be denied that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government continues to display immense fear of empowering our local government structures. The refusal to appoint the Local Government Commission and the pussy-footing in naming the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, are clear indicators of a weak and divided leadership that riles conflict and is clearly counter-productive.
After much deceptive utterances and dominant parliamentary majority impositions, it is indeed very disheartening to witness the new posture of the coalition with their reneging and continued non-embracing of positions fought for, as well as ones that in many ways were seen and accepted improvements.
The nations’ majority must be utterly horrified by the lack of readiness to properly contribute to positive governance at the local level. In this respect, the position is now further divorced from achieving or the general intent of the much earlier, or even the most recent legislation on the issues. Additionally, the many previous problems with the system remain unresolved as well as new ones; to which there is clearly no committed approach to even examine, much less resolve the issues.
Coupled to the foregoing, there are serious challenges in addition to certain major unresolved issues with some Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC)’s and Local Government Areas (LAA) boundaries. The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is also intricately linked to the boundaries of, and within Local Government Areas since same defines the geographical areas of consideration from which Councillors are elected to represent and service. GECOM must therefore look carefully at the NDC boundaries, with a view of clearing up previous problematic areas.
Further, with the opening up of the new housing schemes, many NDCs are finding it extremely difficult to deal with the bigger areas, creating a conundrum for efficacy. This is partly because in the absence of official handover of housing development projects to the various NDCs, coupled to the legitimate expectation that residents of these new schemes are expected to vote at Local Government Elections of the LAA for Councillors who would represent their interests on NDCs.
As an example, Eccles/Ramsburg NDC now has the responsibility for the new housing areas spanning from behind the Industrial site at Eccles, through the massive development in the Providence area to the border of the Mocha Arcadia NDC. In the current GECOM setting for the last LGE, the constituency including the newest housing area is now hugely disproportionate demographically as well as geographically to all the other constituencies in the LAA. It raises numerous questions regarding whether the current balance of representation by Councillors is appropriate.
Further, complications have emerged from the fact that the latter cuts across previously defined constituencies such as Republic Park, Nandy Park and Providence without the specific identifiable ground markers and these are still to be addressed. The new schemes must be regulated regarding the latter and hand over to the NDCs.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar