Mayors’ conference to discuss key issues affecting municipal development

Mayors from the nine municipalities across the country will be hosting a Municipal Conference, aimed at creating opportunities for networking and providing a forum for discourse on key issues affecting the towns’ development.

The conference is scheduled for May 19 and 20, and will be held under the theme “Positioning Municipalities as critical partners in National Development.”

Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland said the conference was pivotal to advancing the agenda as envisioned by President David Granger, of moving the municipalities towards becoming ‘capital towns’ under a green economy framework.

Holland was at the time addressing the media at the pre-event briefing at the Marriott Hotel on Tuesday. He was joined by Bartica Mayor Gifford Marshall.

The conference has been months in the making, and Holland said the Mayors were united in their commitment to execute the event, with the aim of addressing the issues affecting the municipalities’ development.

“This weekend, the municipalities across Guyana will be exhibiting unity. We have worked hard over the past couple of months meeting together as mayors from various towns, and deliberating and discussing and planning the way forward for municipal development. It is with that oneness we bring to you the municipal conference 2017, bringing municipalities, and working together as we foster and push forward with one cohesive mindset,” Holland said.

The conference will incorporate an opening ceremony, leadership presentation and elections for the resuscitation of the Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM) at the Marriott Hotel on day one.

Holland explained that each Mayor is expected to present on strategic and important challenges hindering development in the nine towns.  The topics expected to be covered include: promoting a green economy with agriculture (Anna Regina); leadership and management tools for local government (Corriverton); municipal development and a green economy (Bartica); the roles of municipalities  (Georgetown); promoting municipal tourism (Lethem); Diaspora engagement and the twinning initiative (Mabaruma); advancing Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) and strengthening the local economy (New Amsterdam) and effective legislation and implementation (Rose Hall).

Day two will comprise a plenary session (municipal workshop) at the Regency Hotel. There is also a municipal exhibition showcasing the products of the towns, including the music, arts and craft that will run for both days at the Regency Hotel, Avenue of the Republic.

Mayor Marshall said that the municipality of Bartica was very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the conference. “As you are aware, we are just one year old and we need help to build our capacity to be able to deliver, and we are looking forward to better networking with our municipalities,” Marshall said.

“The evidence shows that our challenges are the same and the only way we can overcome the challenges is to come together and to work together to offset these challenges …networking and capacity would be key this weekend … this is the time and place for us to sit down together and work out our challenges and see how best we can move forward,” he further added.

The Mayors intend to move forward with the recommendations coming out of the conference and are even looking in the direction of them being taken to Parliament and becoming laws.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, Marshall explained that those elected to be part of the executive committee of GAM would be mandated to take those recommendations forward and to ensure that “the conference is not just a talk shop, but we have changes at the municipal level”.