Local government expert Vincent Alexander says independent councillors and a functioning Local Government Commission will be crucial for establishing accountability and autonomy in the local government bodies that will be elected at the impending polls.
In an interview with Stabroek News yesterday, Alexander, who is a member of the Guyana Elections Commission, noted that any council made up of only one political party will see councillors more loyal to the party than the citizenry.
“The real politic is that councillor (under the proportional representation system) feels an obligation to the party because the party extracted him from the list, so it undermines the real autonomy of the council,” Alexander said. He added that the local government reforms, which allow for
