Main opposition APNU on Sunday refuted claims made by Local Government and Regional Development Minister Ganga Persaud that the opposition was to be blamed for the further deferral of the work of the Special Select Committee on Local Government Reform.
On February 1, PPP/C member Neil Kumar accused the APNU of “frustrating the efforts of government to discuss the local government bills and, subsequently hold elections.”
Minister Persaud, during a meeting held last Thursday, said that the last SSC committee was adjourned by its chairman APNU MP Basil Williams, following a dispute over the minutes. The minister said that adjourning the meeting would further inhibit already long deferred local government elections.
Addressing these claims on behalf of the opposition, Shadow Local Government Minister, Ronald Bulkan said they amounted to a clear misrepresentation and distortion of the truth.
Bulkan said the meeting was prematurely discontinued not only because the minutes from the fourth meeting were poorly written and contained serious flaws, but also because of what he described as “a clearly coordinated effort by government to misrepresent decisions that were taken at a previous meeting.”
He referred to clauses 4(1) and 4(1) (b), which concern the changing, by majority position, of the proposed Local Government Commis-sion from six to seven members and for three of such members to be appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Opposition Leader.
Bulkan said clause 4(1) (c), which concerns the appointment of the seventh member, was unresolved. He said that opposition members acquiesced to calls from the government side to not make a determination of their proposal for this member to be a nominee of a trade union in the local government field, but to defer such decision for the next meeting.
Bulkan said that though these agreements were struck during a previous meeting, members of the government side said that the agreement was that clause 4 in its entirety would be discussed at last week’s meeting.
Bulkan said that in order for the work of the committee to continue, there would be need for a definitive and accurate confirmation of the minutes.
As a result, he said it was thought best that the meeting be adjourned until such time.
Bulkan said that the suggestion that the opposition was responsible for the delay in the committee’s work was “absurd.” He also pointed to the government’s refusal of recommendations to hold meetings twice weekly, declaring that it was indeed the government, and not the opposition, who was impeding the work of the committee.
