Government may seek to go ahead with local government elections without the outstanding reforms to reduce ministerial control over local authorities.
President Donald Ramotar recently assented to three of the suite of four local government reform bills passed by the National Assembly and later revealed that he did not assent to the Local Government (Amendment) Bill because he found it to be unconstitutional.
Asked whether government is content to proceed to the polls without the remaining reforms, Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud told Stabroek News on Wednesday that government is going ahead with the current legislation.
The three local government Bills which have been assented to will bring about some reform to the local government framework, but Persaud said that all that was really needed is the Local Government Elections (Amendment) Bill of 2009. While the president has publicly signalled his reason for withholding assent from the bill,
