We’re just about eight weeks away from the scheduled Local Government Elections of June 12. There will be ten Regional Development Councils (RDCs), seven Municipalities (cities and towns), and 65 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) as well as 75 Amerindian Village Councils up for grabs.
But as far as your Eyewitness sees, it’s been a big yawn from the citizenry up to now!! For years, the PPP was criticized for being “undemocratic” in not holding these elections!! Democracy means placing Government in the hands of the people, so getting these layers of Government below the Central Government made sense, no??
The Europeans invented a fancy term – “subsidiarity” – for the notion that decisions affecting folks should be made at the smallest possible level. They invariably invoked the days of the Greek City States, when all the citizens gathered in the City Square to make decisions. Never mind that slaves and women couldn’t vote!!
Well, here in Guyana, we also experienced slavery, but as soon as they were freed, the slaves established villages run by Village Councils. That was subsidiarity in action!! The elected folks actually lived in those villages; so, as far as getting things right, they had skin in the game!!
But when Burnham introduced his 1980 Constitution, he abolished those Village Councils, lumped dozens of villages together, and called them “Neighbourhood Democratic Councils”!! This was now the lowest level of Government to serve the people. Trouble was, he ignored the most significant aspect of our coastal geography: the villages were strung linearly along a public road, so that, for all intents and purposes, the villages at the ends were MILES apart!! There was no greater apprehension of local problems than, say, at the national level!!
The whole point of Local Government was lost!! So, here we are, the PPP’s been beating the bushes for months to get the arrangements in place – and yet mass ennui!!
But the Opposition have also been playing a “hold me-loose me” game. The PNC are locked in a nasty internecine squabble over leadership issues, and definitely are incapable of putting together slates for all the Local Government bodies. So, they’ve signalled they’ll only be contesting the Municipalities where they’re strong – to prevent the PPP from taking over!! Not because they have any plans to run those bodies any better!! A perfect example is the morass the PNC-controlled Georgetown M&CC have gotten Georgetown into!!
Well, maybe to inject some excitement into the LGEs, one of the Opposition paper parties has called for a “Day of Resistance” on June 12. Resistance to democracy at the local level?? This might just motivate the PPP supporters to come out en masse!!
And they’ll be “resisting” the PNC’s candidates and voters in their “safe” municipalities??
…open skies up north!!
Well, how the worm has turned?!! Imagine, from having a “Guyanese Bench” in Barbados, where we were quarantined so’s not to cast our shadow on “Little England”, we can now fly visa-free into “Big England”!! And via the old BOAC, rebranded as “British Airways”!! And the talks with Canada to also inaugurate a “no-visa” policy is so much of a sure thing that two new airlines have just announced direct flights into Toronto!!
So, who’s next?? The Yanks?? Well, to show they’re not as impressed with our “highest growth rate in the world”, your Eyewitness doesn’t think they’ll go that far. But he foresees a return to handing out visas like hot dogs – like before the 2011 and 2015 elections!! That was before Exxon struck oil, and had more to do with putting a finger on the electoral scale!!
And those visas gonna be snapped up like the said hot dogs!! Cause the oil revenues ain’t trickling down to the plebes for another decade!!
…recolonisation
One dyed-in-the-wool Burnhamite bemoaned the jettisoning of his Founder Leader’s anti-colonial shirt jac and food substitute innovations!! But he chose to forget that, on his deathbed, Burnham’s last wish was for a can of condensed milk!!
Ouch!!!
