Presidential candidate of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, Donald Ramotar, has committed to holding local government elections early in 2012, if elected to office. He made the commitment while acknowledging the urgent need for these long overdue elections to be held.
Ramotar was at the time answering a question posed by a businessman at the luncheon organised by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) at the Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday, May 25.
“I think we are in a really desperate need for local government elections in our country. Many of the problems we have at the level of the communities have to do with the fact that there is a need for renewed democracy on the ground,” Ramotar explained.
According to him, with general elections this year, an early 2012 date for local government elections would be a good move.
“It will make also good, practical economic sense to have it as early as possible, because the list that will come out of this national election, you will need a minimum amount of work to use it for the local government elections,” the presidential hopeful outlined. Local government elections were last held in 1994.
In 2010, the National Assembly approved delaying local government elections for another year, although those were constitutionally due on or before December 1, 2011. With the holding of general elections this year, further delay of the local government elections is imminent.
The delayed elections have seen the creation of interim management committees to manage Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and even town councils, as has been the case with Linden.
In response to a question on shared governance, the presidential adviser on politics made it clear that while the PPP/C is not opposed to the idea, “trust among political parties” continues to be a bugbear.
He referred to instances when the PPP/C was “shafted” by the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) after they had agreed to cooperate.
“If you transport that into central government, then you can see the chaos that we will have in this country,” he added.
Security
With security being an issue of concern to many Guyanese, the presidential hopeful said that government under his leadership will set up a specialised crime fighting squad within the police force, as well as provide enhanced training for officers, to address the current crime situation.
“We have to create a squad team and learn from the experiences of the other squad, and make sure we don’t make the same issues again. But we should have a good team to deal with some of the dangerous criminals in this society,” the PPP/C presidential candidate pointed out.
However, he stated that any solution to the scourge must not only deal with the Guyana Police Force, but also take into account the judiciary.
According to Ramotar, more judges are needed, as well as the relevant tools for the prosecutors to ensure that there are more convictions.
Meanwhile, Ramotar declared that crime is evolving. He was convinced that crimes locally are linked to the global drug and arms trades, so a solution demands international cooperation.
“I see the crime situation, drug crime in particular, as an international issue, not just a national issue; and it would need the cooperation of authorities in our region as it would need the cooperation of the other forces abroad, especially countries where the market is big for this type of activity,” Ramotar stated.
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