In a matter of two months, June 12 – Guyanese are expected to be heading to the polls to vote for Local Government Elections (LGE) as they seek to elect persons in their neighbourhoods/constituencies to push for the kind of development they wish to see in their Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and/or townships.
Citizens will also make their decision on the basis of which political party will more than likely follow the necessary principles and practices in keeping with transparent and accountable governance.
But, of course, we all know by now that with holding elections, whether LGE or national, there is contention.
At present, acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, is expected to deliver a ruling on the application of APNU’s Chief Scrutineer, Carol Joseph, challenging the process used to compile the Voters’ List for the upcoming polls. Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has continuously maintained that it acted lawfully in compiling the Voters’ List/Official List of Electors and made those submissions in court also.
Predictably, in December 2022, the APNU representative via her attorney asked for an urgent hearing of an application she had filed challenging the process used to compile the Voters’ List for the LGE.
Nonetheless, Monday’s LGE Nomination Day was reminiscent of the No-Confidence Motion on December 21, 2018 with the high number of crossover candidates. This caused a tsunami of discussion on social media platforms, as like in the case of the NCM, the Opposition was once again caught off-guard with their long-time PNCR and APNU member Patricia Chase-Green and current councillors Esan Vanderstoop (the New Amsterdam Town Council) and Trichia Richards (Georgetown) switching sides and are now candidates for the ruling party. It is a political nightmare for the Opposition.
But more importantly, there are numerous youth candidates, inclusive of the young businessmen, athletes, and entertainers among others on the PPP/C list of candidates.
An interesting statement was made by one of the candidates for the PPP/C, entertainer Malcolm Ferreira of Albouystown, who ran as an independent candidate the last time. Speaking about his decision to join the PPP, he said: “the ability to be somewhere where you can have access to and work with people who really wanna develop communities…Had I not been open to working with anyone, I would not have been here with the PPP and had the PPP not been open to working with anyone, I would not have been here.”
This is a profound statement as it demonstrates that candidates are determined in their quest for development of their communities/neighbourhoods and have done away with party politics/party loyalty.
It reveals that leaders are willing to take a holistic approach to work with collective action on issues which are important to them and their communities.
There has been a great shift over the years in the political landscape where young people are beginning to partake and contribute and even catalyse significant changes in Guyana.
Additionally, to this there has been great evolution and growing emphasis on youth activism via digital means as the younger generation reap the benefits of social media platforms to advocate for development.
Youths and young candidates at the upcoming LGE can be a powerful instrument for community development programmes. All the youth and young candidates should be congratulated as youth participation in community development is very vital.
Community development is based upon the confidence that people can work together to form their own destiny if given the opportunity to participate in a free and open environment. It is, therefore, imperative that these young candidates be engaged as they mobilise to solve their neighbourhoods/communities’ problems for development.
The importance of youths in accelerating and playing critical roles in local democratic organs in Guyana is a good stepping stone to national politics/agenda.
Community development, in the context of President Dr Irfaan Ali’s “One Guyana” initiative, has certainly unfolded on LGE Nomination Day.
