US Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt has once again voiced the need for the holding of local government elections, saying it is critical in ensuring that citizens hold officials accountable for a clean and healthy environment.
“Only when people have the ability to elect or reject local officials will they have… that power and that authority to ensure that those who are in charge at the local level support a clean and healthy environment,” Am-bassador Hardt said yesterday, while adding that the garbage situation in the capital city speaks to a more pervasive problem and moving forward with local government elections is needed to deal with the “larger problem” of local governance. “At the end of the day, it is up to each of us to make a difference in our families and our communities no matter how small or how big the effort,” he added.
In January the four Western missions—the US, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union—released a joint statement reminding all political parties of a promise made during the 2011 national election to hold local elections within a year. “Given the important and pressing need for effective local governance, we believe that 2013 should be a watershed moment for the people of Guyana— the year they can once again democratically elect their local government,” the statement said, while adding that for women and other underrepresented groups, local elections offer a venue to participate and influence the decision-making of their communities.
At that time, they also called for urgent resolution of differences over the local government reform legislation under consideration by a special select committee of the National Assembly. The committee is currently moving to wrap up consideration of the Fiscal Transfer Bill, before returning all four bills placed in its charge to the National Assembly for passage.
Guyana has not held a local election since 1994 and the missions agreed that there could be no more excuses or “valid justification” for the continued delay.
