Govt yet to name nominees for Local Government Commission

As pressure continues to mount for the establishment of a Local Government Commission, the coalition Government is yet to announce the names of its nominees. This is despite the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Opposition having revealed its three nominees for the Commission some three months ago.

When asked about the Government’s nominees at the Post Cabinet briefing on Thursday, Minister of State Joseph Harmon could not confirm whether his Administration has selected its nominees for the Commission.

“I will make an enquiry about the Government’s nominee, I can’t say to you now that we have the names of the persons who are going to be there… we (may) have some indication of the people we are looking at but I’m not at liberty to say who those persons are,” he told reporters.

Only Tuesday last, the PPP protested the Ministry of the Presidency over the delay in the establishment of the Local Government Commission by Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, whom they believe is attempting to usurp its power to gain control of all local authority areas.

During the picketing exercise, PPP Executive Secretary Zulfikar Mustapha posited it seemed that Government has ulterior motives for this setback. “We feel he isn’t appointing the Commission because Government wants to control these local authority bodies,” Mustapha told media operatives on Tuesday last.

However, the Minister of State pointed out that on the contrary, steps are being taken by the Communities Ministry to locate suitably office space for the Commission.

“The Ministry of Communities is actively taking steps to find a building to house the Commission and ensuring that all the processes that we cross the ‘Ts’ and dot the ‘Is’ so that we find the most suitable building. There are some buildings that have already been identified by that process,” Harmon noted.

The Minister of State further outlined that all the other issues in relation to the furniture and so on, have already been catered for; as such, it can be expected that within a short space of time, the Commission will be established.

The Local Government Commission, when establish, will have oversight over the various local authority areas in the country. It would also be responsible for appointing officials in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) and local authority areas, as well as the approval of budgets for the NDCs.

Former acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba, and former Local Government Ministers Norman Whittaker and Clinton Collymore were nominated as the PPP’s representatives on the Local Government Commission.