The Local Government Commission (LGC), which is mandated to oversee Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities across the country, is preparing to address a number of fraud allegations that have surfaced over the past few weeks.
LGC Commissioner Carol Sooba
Commissioner on the LGC and former Town Clerk, Carol Sooba told Guyana Times via telephone that when the body met on Tuesday, it was expected that it would discuss the revelations and formulate a plan of action on the way forward. Sooba disclosed that the first step towards effective action was to prioritise the numerous complaints.
“Our task is to prioritise these issues according to the seriousness,” she stated. Admitting that she would not be able to disclose the exact method of how the Commission planned to deal with the issue, Sooba noted that a general system would have to be put in place.
“We have to set up a system by which we can deal with these things.” She went on to explain that owing to the large number of NDCs and municipalities around the country, the system will have to be versatile enough to deal with such issues on a large basis and also prevent future issues of this kind.
Just this week, three NDCs within Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) have been accused of meddling in fraud. Substantial evidence has been provided to back up the claims. In the first case, Grove/Diamond NDC Chairman Bharrat Narine is calling for a probe into $21 million that has gone missing. The Enmore NDC is being investigated for missing monies that were allocated at a barbeque fundraiser. Additionally, the Caledonia/ Good Success NDC has been accused of misappropriation of funds and implementing higher rates and taxes that were never officially approved by the Communities Ministry.
