Dear Editor,
This Government since the last Local Government Election has done nothing to empower the Local Democratic Organs (LDO) of this country but they have been creating new ones and gerrymandering old ones in order to control them. May I remind the coalition that empowerment can only be realised when resources are sufficiently available to carry out the functions of these Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) and municipalities. There can be no empowerment without sufficient resources. This Government is all about empty rhetoric! A pertinent question here is: Has LDOs in Guyana truly empowered the people? The answer is again NO! You cannot empower your wife and giver her just a few dollars to run the home!
Moreover, the finance garnered from rates and taxes and the meagre subvention are wholly inadequate. This is compounded by the fact that proposals made by the NDCs and municipalities are badly decimated when included in the regional budget. Many of the proposed projects are then ‘scissored’, leaving the few selected ones at the mercy of the Central Government. However, this Government will ensure that they carry out developmental works in their support-base areas. There are numerous evidences of this and this has been raised at the Region 6 (East Berbice-Corentyne) RDC statutory meetings more than once.
What is important to note also is the fact that the NDCs have little or no say how the ‘huge’ subventions should be spent. Section 21(a) of the Procurement Act Chapter 73:05 says, “The National Board may, at its discretion, create District Tender Boards for procurement by Neighbourhood Democratic Councils… comprising part-time members as follows: (i) two members appointed by the relevant Regional Board; (ii) one member appointed by the relevant NDC.” It must be submitted that this Section serves to give empowerment to the NDCs where goods are to be supplied to them or works to be contracted or tendered out on their behalf. What is even more worrying is the fact that NDCs do not know what projects will be done and by whom and at what cost. Is this ‘empowerment’? Why is it that NDCs are given subventions and cannot participate in how it is spent?
This is how the coalition empowers NDCs – they delegated the powers to their politically appointed Regional Executive Officers and Deputy Regional Executive Officers effectively ‘hoarding power at the centre while keeping local governments weak’! This is the manner in which they stifle and destroy development at the Local Government level. If this Government and the Communities Minister are serious about empowerment, then they must ensure that NDCs are empowered to spend their monies as they see fit. Moreover, since the coalition controls the Regional Tender Board, contracts are awarded to many fly-by-night contractors who fail to deliver value for money! Another debilitating blow to ‘empowerment’!
In conclusion, if this Government is serious about empowering NDCs then they should have never wasted and squandered monies on wasteful projects such as the D’Urban Park Project and the rental of a bond to store condoms. These two wasteful projects alone could have given each NDC and municipality a small excavator to maintain its drainage system and save communities from inevitable flooding once the rains come and they will!
Local democracy is under attack and is being eroded by the coalition and empowerment without resources will remain an illusory concept!
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
RDC Councillor,
Region Six
