Local Govt Commission yet to be empowered, fully operational

Dear Editor,
The perennial local governance cycles since May 2015 have realised faded hope in the APNU/AFC (A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change) coalition Government’s policies. The majority of our citizens are displaying greater apprehension, given the now bullish threat to their rights and security; the fraudulent, non-transparent practices of the Government; and certainty, that almost no positive tangibles for most Guyanese are likely to materialise from the fluff and bluff of this Government.
The approach to 2018 provided brutal evidence of the negative, vengeful politics being rolled out by the partisan, get-rich-quick coalition Government. Many communities which were inundated with water from previous light rainfall are now expected to experience serious heavy flooding, given the predicted increase in rainfall. The silence from Government regarding appropriate response preparations has been resounding. By now one could hardly expect a difference in their behaviour, since ‘the hush’ is premised on the continued policy of non-cooperation with, and disruption of, the programmes of some Councils lost by APNU/AFC at the 2016 Local Government Elections.
Notably, the Civil Defence Commission, which is expected to be geared for disaster relief activity, has recently used public media to sensitise residents in threatened low-lying areas to take preventative actions against likely flooding.
In stark contrast, it is most shocking, shameful and disgusting that residents of some affected areas are yet to see the APNU/AFC Ministers giving some words of comfort to some of the flood victims in their time of distress and significant losses.
Most wicked is the apparent disappearance of the Communities Minister, Social Protection Minister, and the Social Cohesion or the Sporting Ministers in the troubling times of our people. In 2018, the nation, with one united voice, must call for the Local Government Commission to be fully operationalised with full constitutional autonomy, and not as a shadow Department of the Communities Ministry.
The Communities Minister continues to treat the Local Government Commission with scant respect. The Commission’s last meeting for 2017 was held at the National Library. Although its duration exceeded the midday hour, it is sad to know that attending Commissioners were not provided with snacks, not even coffee or water.
It has been more than three months since the Commissioners have been appointed, and they are yet to receive their salaries.
The Commissioners want to know, and are also now discussing, what happened to the sums of money that were budgeted for the Local Government Commission in 2016 and 2017.
Commissioners of the Local Government Commission have indicated that numerous alarming complaints have been receive from elected Councils. To date, they have been unable to attend to these matters, given the constricting grip of the Communities Ministry. No means of transportation is available to the Commissioners, and they do not have an office from which they can operate. By extension, effective and meaningful communication around the country to address their mandate is in reality an impossibility. One Commissioner said the members of the Commission are contemplating taking the APNU/AFC Government to court, to make sure that the Commission becomes fully operational.
The Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) are experiencing serious staffing problems. The surreptitious negative intervention by the Minister, in attempting to control the Councils through empowered Regional Executive Officers and Overseers, is frustrating the NDC’s implementation of their work programme.
The Commission must function as the law permits, and the APNU/AFC coalition must stop this political interference. Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, in his 2018 New Year’s press release, alludes to Local Government Elections this year, and also hypocritically and conveniently advances that: “It is your local representatives who must ensure that roads will be repaired, streets are adequately lighted, markets are maintained, and garbage is collected. It is the representatives that you elect who will have those and many other powers and responsibilities, not central Government.” Bulkan knows fully well that his Government has done everything it could to derail these projects by many councils.
As evidence to the foregoing, there has been no intervention from the Communities Ministry when NDCs attempt to look into some of these issues. After two years in office, there has been no assistance with street lighting, even amidst the alarming crime increase. There have been deliberate delays in the approval of projects by the RDC; the non-implementation of approved budgeted projects, such as the health centre in Eccles in 2015, 2016 & 2017; delays in the release of subventions, and conversion of same as the Ministry sees fit. Reference is made to the flawed and crumbling new Eccles bridge, for which $1 million in NDC subvention was deducted and put as Variance after the RDC Region Four bungled the project.
Empowerment and full operation of the Local Government Commission have been overdue for too long now.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar