Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan said he has noticed an ongoing change in governance at the community level in Guyana, in that a decentralised and fully autonomous system of governance is emerging.
Then delivering the charge to the Councillors in the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) of Region Five, (Mahaica-Berbice), in the compound of the Fort Wellington Secondary School on the West Coast of Berbice (WCB), Bulkan said the current change allows people at the grassroots level to have a direct say in the development of their communities.
“This system was entrenched in the Constitution of Guyana, but had been ignored by the previous administration,” Bulkan said. “The APNU/AFC Government has restored the system, and is committed to improving it and having it entrenched in the governance system to the extent that no future Government would ever be given the right to dispossess grassroots citizens of their rights to self-determination, entrenched in the laws of Guyana.”
Minister Bulkan noted that Local Government Elections (LGE) held on November 12th this year have been the fourth such to be held in Guyana in nearly half a century; and the 2016 LGE, which were followed by the 2018 LGE, were the first ever to be held consecutively in the country after a dearth of 23 years.
He assured Councillors of a “hands-off guarantee” from Central Government, citing Article 75 of the Constitution of Guyana, which gives Municipalities and Councils full autonomy for their activities without influence from Central Government.
Minister Bulkan said: “Article 75 of the Constitution says that Parliament shall ensure that Local Democratic Organs (LDOs) shall be autonomous. That is, have the right to manage their own affairs.”
He stressed that the Coalition Government had, in just over three years, ensured that the democratic credentials of the Local Government Councils are intact, and had provided considerable support by way of training and capacity building within councils.
“We have been putting our money where our (mouths are),” he underscored.
Minister Bulkan observed that there is more to be done, and he
Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan and the newly-sworn-in NDC Councillors of Region 6
said Government would be aggressively pursuing a programme for the further empowerment of the local government system of governance in Guyana. “We are in a new era, an era of people’s empowerment”, he declared.
The intention of the Coalition, he noted, is to have the system of decentralised governance so entrenched that citizens all across the country would realise the utility, validity and superiority of this approach to governance and would resist any attempt to resuscitate the old and discredited model of centralised governance.
The Chairpersons for the ten Neighborhood Councils in Region Five were sworn in to office by Regional Executive Officer Ovid Morrison.
Other attendees at this exercise included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communities, Emil Mc Garrell; senior staffers of the Communities Ministry, senior officers of the Regional Democratic Councils, overseers of the NDCs, and other special invitees.
The newly elected NDC leaders in Region Six, East Berbice-Corentyne, took the Oath of Office before Regional Executive Officer Kim Williams-Stephen on the Lawns of State House in New Amsterdam.
Region 6 Chairman David Armogan called on the leaders to allow the people to participate in activities, and he said the leaders should be servants to the people, instead of things being the other way around.
“Democracy is consulting with the people, allowing them to participate in the process of decision making; and that is what we expect from our newly elected councillors and vice chairs,” he said.
Armogan also called on the community leaders to be fair in all aspects of the execution of their duties, and serve in a way that would make the lives of the citizens more comfortable.
