Chairman of the parliamentary Special Select Committee on Local Government, Basil Williams, says that the Committee met yesterday afternoon as planned and agreed upon a methodology on how the meetings are to proceed.
Four bills are with the select committee and passage of these is critical to holding long-stalled local government elections.
With Williams as its chair, the Committee consists of Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, APNU’s Ronald Bulkan, Joseph Harmon and Amna Ally, AFC’s Dr Veerasammy Ramayya and the PPP/C’s Bibi Shadick and Neil Kumar.
APNU MP Williams became chairman of the committee after the combined opposition used its majority to out-vote the PPP/C’s nominee for the position, Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud.
Williams said that yesterday’s proceedings went quite smoothly, and that the meeting is to continue next Wednesday, where it is likely they will begin to address the Local Government Commission Bill.
Also to be examined are the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Municipal and District Council’s (Amendment) Bill.
