The voices for LGE have gone totally silent

Dear Editor,

I wrote last week about the total silence of the Government about their broken promise of Local Government Elections (LGE) before the end of 2015. Now the Minister responsible, Ronald Bulkan, has quietly and in an uncharacteristically low-profile manner, announced that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is not ready for LGE in 2015. They are definitely dodging LGE.

The Minister has clumsily attempted to shift blame to Dr Steve Surujbally and GECOM. The truth is that the introduction of legislation designating Lethem, Mabaruma and Bartica as townships is a strategy to delay the LGE. The legislation to increase townships is Guyana has nothing to do with their commitment to developing new townships and meeting a manifesto promise. The move in Parliament on Thursday was an awkward attempt to establish further barriers for holding LGE.

I support the new townships. As part of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Cabinet, we had agreed to establish a number of new townships, including Lethem, Bartica, Mabaruma, Parika, Supernaam, Vreed-en-Hoop, Grove (EBD), and Rosignol. Both political parties, therefore, were on the same page with this policy decision. The PPP Government’s position was that Government must work to develop these areas and to prepare them for genuine townships. We started the work. But more has to be done. The haste in the introduction of the township legislation is not to meet any requirement to proceed with establishing the new township; there is no need for haste.

But for the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) the introduction of the township legislation is necessary at this time because it is clutching at straws. It needs desperately to defer the LGE and it is trying to see if this would provide them with a legitimate reason to further push back LGE. We can reasonably be certain that this is only one of several barriers that APNU/AFC will introduce as they are now in full-battle mode to postpone the LGE.

The silence of several stakeholders on the further delay of LGE is deafening. In particular, I am looking expectedly and disappointingly at the reaction of the representatives of ABC countries. They were not quiet pre-May elections to express their eagerness for LGE and they were loud in their condemnation and disappointment on the failure to hold LGE in Guyana.

The representatives of the ABC countries insisted that LGE demonstrate the commitment of any Government to strong democratic norms. It was their argument that they were simply echoing their Government’s position of the importance of LGE and not taking political sides.

I and as far as I know, the PPP also believes that LGE is a necessary part of the strong democratic governance. We believed then that the representatives from the ABC countries were not fair in assigning blame for the delay of LGE in Guyana. But we have crossed that bridge already. There is no need for further delay.

I have to believe that those interested parties, including the ABC countries, that were aggressively promoting the holding of LGE were genuinely interested in strengthening Guyana’s democracy. I am willing to accept that the ABC countries involvement and support for political players who were pushing for LGE had nothing to do with a sense that the PPP was at the time vulnerable.

For the record, I know that as a member of the PPP Cabinet, we wanted LGE for several years now. The deferment of LGE, however, was to meet all the demands of the then Opposition. For most of the period of the delay, it was because the political parties were negotiating over various issues that became pre-requisites for holding LGE.

None of those issues, whether it is the fault of the PPP or APNU/AFC, now matters. Blame whomever you want, but we have long passed over that road. It is entirely up to APNU/AFC now. But I know that APNU/AFC believe that the political circumstances in the country are not favourable for them to participate in any LGE at this time. They promised LGE by end of 2015 and they madly rushed through several pieces of legislation. The post-election euphoria gave them confidence that they had the upper hand with LGE. Now they are afraid to face the people, supporters of both sides, because in just five months, they have proven they are not capable of taking Guyana forward.

Now all those interested parties, like the ABC countries, certain other international bodies, such as Transparency International, and local political seers like Christopher Ram, Ramon Gaskin, Freddie Kissoon, and media houses like Kaieteur News and Stabroek News, must demonstrate the same commitment for immediate Local Government Elections. Their silence is loudly being heard throughout Guyana and in the world.

LGE must be held now and not left dangling on political expediency. Those who were very interested in LGE before need to now come clean – was it a genuine interest in the holding of LGE as necessary for strengthening democratic governance or merely an anti-PPP position? Now that the tables have turned and it is APNU/AFC in control, the commitment for LGE should not diminish and none of us ought to accept silly excuses and passing the buck.

Respectfully,

Dr Leslie Ramsammy