Kwakwani residents will tomorrow go ahead with planned elections to set up a committee to run the community, despite a vow by the government that it would only recognise the legitimacy of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) recently installed by the Local Government Ministry.
The community, which last week decided that it would hold polls to elect a 15-member committee, has the support of the regional administration and Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon yesterday said that residents would raise their own resources to develop the community in the absence of subventions and other support from the central government.
Although the IMC was installed to replace the disbanded Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), it has been greeted with fierce opposition by residents and the claims by some of its members of being unaware of their appointment to it have cast doubt on its credibility. Government has been accused of recently setting up IMCs with membership drawn from among its supporters, attracting intense opposition criticism and calls for a sincere effort at holding local government elections that have been delayed for a decade and a half.
At a news conference yesterday, Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud said that the Kwakwani IMC will continue to function, since it is the only legitimate council which was delegated to run the affairs of the community—a position that was also emphasised by Junior Minister Norman Whittaker, who was in Linden yesterday. “The IMC that was installed at Kwakwani was installed in keeping with the requirement for IMC appointments as set out in the existing legislation. In other words, we did not do anything that is outside the legislation,” Whittaker told Stabroek News.
Whittaker said that at the time when the government had received a petition to investigate the NDC, in the lead up to its replacement by the IMC, it was down to two councilors. “So for two years they could not have held meeting because they did not have a quorum, there were lots of financial improprieties and a lot of irregularities,” he noted, adding that coming out of the inquiry it was recommended that the NDC be dissolved and an IMC installed.
Further, Whittaker maintained that the IMC members were identified by the residents of Kwakwani and covered representative bodies of all sectors, including churches, young people and other groups and organisations. “The IMC is not political,” he said, while emphasising that the law does not allow for the residents to hold their own elections.
“Do you know of any region that has two RDCs? None. Do you know of any municipality with two town councils? None. And similarly we will not have a neighbourhood with two IMCs or two NDCs!,” he said, adding the government is prepared to continue to deal with the properly appointed, duly-installed IMC, which will receive the government subvention.
‘A democratic process’
But Solomon declared that despite the government position, the elections will be going ahead tomorrow. He said that the actions of the residents of Kwakwani illustrate the broken system that has denied them their democratic rights for over a decade. “For any official, government or regional, to take out particular aspects of the law to say it’s applicable for installation of an IMC is [a] disservice to democracy because you have to take into context all those years that they have been denied the right to exercise their democratic right,” he said, in a reference to the government’s installation of IMCs in period during which local government elections have been delayed, since 1997.
Solomon blamed the lack of political will for the absence of local government elections and reform. He added that residents of Region Ten are prepared to challenge that political will and put pressure on those responsible for there not being elections. “Whether it is legitimate or illegitimate, it is the view of the people of Kwakwani… and I believe that democracy is that the will of the people must be respected,” he said. “They are saying that it’s I, as the Regional Chairman, who is doing this. I am a servant of the people this is what they elected me into this office to do, to serve then and rightfully, with every last strength in my body, that is what I’ll do. I did not impose this on them, this is what they want a democratic process,” he added.
Asked about how the elected committee would function without government recognition, Solomon said that it could raise its own resources; human or capital, to advance the positions it would take. “…Like the RDC is willing to support the people’s view, I would appreciate if the government would support the people… to challenge the people’s will to me, in itself, is an undemocratic thing,” he said.
To date, residents of Kwakwani have put together a list of approximately 40 residents who have expressed an interest in sitting on the committee. According to one of the active residents on the ground, Kelvin Daly, a group of residents have taken to task of holding community meetings and conducting house-to-house consultations to come up with the list and to solicit the support of the process. According to Daly residents are very enthused about the process and are prepared to go through with the election despite the objections from the level of the central government.
The list also includes the names of some persons who currently sit on the IMC, including its Chairman Sachie Parvatan. Parvatan, when contacted by Stabroek News yesterday, declined to comment, explaining that she was awaiting word from the Local Government Minister. She said that earlier in the day she had spoken with Solomon, who had informed her that he was going to be meeting with the minister on the matter. “I suspect that the minister will call me today as well, so I don’t want to comment on the issue,” she said.
Jocelyn Morian, another resident and community leader, said that a number of issues need to be addressed. “Kwakwani is hurting, we got to build back our relationship with the bauxite company, there are a lot of social issues that are being neglected, politics has divided our people and we want to get back to where we once were as a people together who show care and concern for all and the community,” said Morian.
Morian had been approached to sit on the IMC but had declined, indicating that he would have rather be part of a democratic process which would have seen him being elected or not into the position. “The real problem is not with the people, it is the process and the fact that we want people who are capable of effectively running the affairs of this community,” he said.
