Alliance For Change (AFC) Region Four Councillor Michael Carrington has flayed Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall over what he dubbed as the “unceremonious removal” of the Chairman of the Soesdyke Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
In a press statement issued on Friday, Carrington said that on July 27, 2009 Chairman of the Soesdyke NDC Leslie Glasgow was voted out of office by four PPP/C councillors and five public servants who had been appointed NDC councillors by Lall, a move that the AFC councillor said was to facilitate the ruling party gaining control of the NDC.
According to Carrington, at the 1994 local government elections the PPP/C had won nine seats on the NDC and the Soesdyke community group nine seats, for a total of 18 councillors on the Soesdyke Te Huis Coverden NDC. However, over the past 14 years, he said, the PPP/C councillors dwindled in numbers through abandonment of seats or resignations to the extent that the party could not select any more persons from its list of candidates to fill the vacancies on the council.
This year after the council approved the holding of elections for the post of chairman, Carrington said, Lall decided to put in place an unorthodox backup plan to help the four remaining PPP/C councillors. “He appointed five public servants as councillors who were directed to vote for the PPP/C councillor Aaron Grant Stuart as chairman and public servant Michael Persaud as vice-chairman of the Soesdyke Te Huis Coverden NDC,” he added.
Carrington said the councillors were elected through a “highly irregular process” and did not take the oath at a council meeting and as a result have “no legal standing on the council” and should therefore not be legally entitled to participate in any poll conducted by the NDC.
He further charged that “the undemocratic manner” in which they were placed on the council and their actions may have been influenced by the recognition that failure to comply with the wishes of Lall could result in them being replaced on the council and, given the state of affairs in Guyana, even losing their regular jobs.
Carrington also argued that Lall should have advised the council to defer the election of chairman and deputy chairman to the upcoming local government elections. But he said the minister opted to use his power under the constitution to appoint the public servants for the PPP/C’s benefit, disregarding the interest of the Soesdyke Te Huis Coverden NDC.
Carrington also contended that Lall acted in “a dictatorial” manner and resorted to ‘back door’ tactics, ignoring the tenets of the constitution Section 12 of 1980, which declares that the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) are to govern the affairs of the NDCs in their respective regions and that the minister should act as an advisor.
He asserted too that local government reform will not work unless the RDC holds the power vested in the local government minister by a majority of votes of its councils and parliament holds the power over the RDC by a two-third majority of its members. “Only then will democracy truly exist in Guyana’s local government system,” Carrington concluded.
