With the four revised local government bills slated to be returned to the National Assembly next week, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan yesterday said that his party would vote for their passage.
The Local Government Commis-sion Bill, the Local Govern-ment (Amendment) Bill, the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill and the Fiscal Transfers Bill, which have been in the works for years, were recently revised by a parliamentary select committee. Their enactment is expected to reform the local government system and serve as a foundation for the holding of long-delayed polls.
Since completing the consideration of the Bills, the committee has met twice to vet the report on the committee’s work.
This was completed last Friday and APNU MP Basil Williams, who serves as the committee’s Chair, has said that he will bring the report of the committee’s work to the National Assembly during next week’s sitting.
After this is done, Williams said, it will then be left to Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud to pilot the bills through their readings.
Aside from Williams, other members to the committee included PPP/C MPs Gail Teixeira, Persaud, Bibi Shadick and Neil Kumar, APNU MPs Ronald Bulkan, Joseph Harmon, and Amna Ally and AFC MP Versammy Ramayya
Ramjattan yesterday said that he has been advised by Ramayya that the contents of the bills are “good” and that the AFC will vote yes for their passage when the time comes.
Williams has also been optimistic that the government, despite several residual contentions, will support the bills once they have been re-tabled. He said given the fact that all members of the select committee unanimously accepted the reports on the committee’s work, there is no reason to believe that the bills will be opposed by any Member of Parliament.
