The bipartisan task force for local government reform has hit another roadblock.
After a meeting in late December between co-chairs of the task force, Clinton Collymore for the PPP/C and Vincent Alexander for the PNCR, there has been no progress in the resumption of its work, which had been stalled for more than two years. New local government polls have been due for a decade, during which time the task force was set up to complete recommendations on an appropriate electoral system for the polls and an appropriate system for making annual fiscal allocations to local government bodies. The government has expressed its desire to see the polls run off this year, but this is contingent on the task force completing its work. In the interim, there have been calls for a new national voter registration exercise as well as a review of the composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in order to make it less politically partisan.
Alexander told Stabroek News that there has been no contact since Collymore fell ill (the former Minister was hospitalised at the start of the year), and no official representative of the governing party has been appointed to replace him. He did mention, however, that it has been indicated that Local Government Minister Khellawan Lall might take Collymore’s place in the negotiations.
According to Alexander, the parties have so far agreed in principle on having an evenly split constituency/proportional representation system to be used at the next local government polls for municipalities and neighbourhoods. The system is required to be configured in a manner that facilitates as many constituency-based seats as possible, while providing for a top-up list system that would balance the results in keeping with the proportionality of the overall votes cast.
Alexander added that no work has begun on the system for making annual fiscal transfers between central government and local government bodies or in determining the terms of reference for a constitutional local government commission, which is another aspect of the task force’s mandate.
Among the proposals that had been made for the fiscal transfer system was a formula for the allocations to be made based on the population size of the individual local government bodies, the infrastructure and services they provide, the revenue base of the various bodies and their capacity to utilise the resources provided.
The most recent observer mission report urged the reactivation of the task force as well as the finalisation and implementation of agreed upon recommendations. It cited the need to address the allocation of the greatest number of seats possible on a constituency/ward basis as well as determining the overall electoral system and the formula for fiscal transfers. It is asking too that contesting the local elections on a non-party basis be considered.
Alexander, though admitting he has not read the report, said he personally favoured not having the party contest at the neighbourhood council level, instead only at the municipal level. In this vein, he also mentioned that the party is now conducting consultations with its constituencies and its members as it looks to review its participation at the polls.
