“Georgetown needs to get their act together” – GAM President

…cites too many “political actors” in Local Govt admin

Following the many conflicts within the municipality of the City of Georgetown, President of the Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM), Carwyn Holland, is urging the Mayor and City Councillors (M&CC) to get their act together and win back the trust of their constituents.
“If there is a negative vibe coming from the capital city, you have that same negative vibe being responded to by people in other constituencies or municipalities. They will feel threatened and they will want to guard against that, then the position of trust will be undermined for their local representatives and then it becomes difficult. So, I am only praying that sooner than later all the Councillors

of the Georgetown Municipality can come together and work in harmony and focus on the greater good,” Holland said during an interview.
Holland, who is also the outgoing Mayor of Linden, noted that they are all cognisant of the responsibilities of the M&CC of Georgetown but also explained that they need to put personalities aside and start taking back control of the capital city.
In response to the fiasco during the recent Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections, Holland said it is his belief that Councillors should not be made to tow party lines, rather they should exercise their own judgement for the betterment of their constituencies.
“What I find affecting the system is when parties take charge and give directions as to how things should go and there is where it will be infringing on the rights and freedoms of the local authority or the Local Government Organs where persons have to follow party line and party instructions,” he noted.

“Too many political actors”
Holland said GAM has taken note of the amount of “political actors” within the Local Government administration, indicating that it is a cause for concern. He explained because of the political atmosphere, technocrats are no longer technocrats in the truest sense since they now feel the need to pledge loyalty to a political party.
He further related that this affects the service delivery to the constituents often resulting in conflicts within the municipalities.
“So, persons feel even if it affects the community once it’s in line with their political preference they have to go that is wrong, that is how you are having a lot of conflicts within municipalities where administrators are making political divisions

and taking political stance and that shouldn’t be,” he noted.
“The reason why you hire administrators is to provide a service. So, if their service is not to community, their service is to party then I have a problem with that, I have a serious problem with that. That is playing out in many municipalities right now and its affecting the system because you can make decisions from now till forever, once those who have to carry out the decision are not carrying their weight, once they are not putting aside politics and focusing only on providing that service to communities, I believe we will always have problems in the system,” Holland explained.
Holland posited it is not surprising that the Local Government system is plagued by so many issues since local democracy was absent for a number of years. He noted that because of that lapse, the system remains a work in progress.
“We have a revisit of the (Municipal Districts and Councils Act Chapter) 28:01. We are calling for it from the GAM level, several mayors have been calling for 28:01 to be updated because there are several aspects of it which are conflicting and there are also several aspects of the laws which are outdated and there are also several aspects which needs better clarification,” he noted.
The GAM President said there is a need for greater public awareness so that citizens can understand the system. He added that GAM will be embarking on public education campaigns within the various municipalities.