Dear Editor,
The APNU+AFC government has determined that the allocation of central government resources to the regional democratic councils, municipalities and neighbourhood democratic councils should be a function of their political support of the government.
The budget is the primary economic tool that is used to identify and to allocate scarce resources for local government bodies in relation to their various programmes and projects, and for the efficient and effective management of these resources. It facilitates planned and orderly development. These programmes and projects and concomitant allocation of funds ought to reflect not only inputs from residents, agencies and organisations, but also, the council’s policies and priorities as the representatives of those very residents. Indeed, the budget is a tool which must communicate priorities to the council, the staff of the councils and the broader public.
Careful and in-depth examination of the 2016 National Budget with its financial allocations, inter alia, to the ten administrative regions and the subvention from central government to the municipalities and the neighbourhood democratic councils provide evidence that the PPP/C’s policy of allocation on the basis of need, what is available and ability to manage these allocations has been abandoned.
The reality is that local revenue sources, viz, the RDC Economic Project Fund, rates and taxes, rent for use of market stalls, abattoir fees, licences and permit fees, day care fees, etc, meet only a small part of the cost of services and local expenditure needs. Furthermore, the rates and taxes left for local government are generally small and problematic to collect. So, on the one hand residents are quick to point to limited services while the local authorities hasten to remind them that significant amounts of rates and taxes are unpaid,
It is for this reason that local revenue is supplemented by a system of fiscal transfers from central government to the municipalities and NDCs, based on the prior year’s performance, to ensure that eligible local governments have some reasonable amount of resources to carry out their mandated functions.
The APNU+AFC government seems hell bent on taking control of as many local authorities as it can. The threat to increase rates and taxes must be viewed as the actions of an uncaring government determined to get our support at all costs.
Guyanese should be reminded of the many commitments to the Guyanese people that the APNU+AFC government has failed to deliver ‒ salary increases, jobs, crime/security, etc.
I say to the new councils that they can, of their own volition and with the support of residents, improve revenue collection while they work to identify and implement other revenue sources. They should examine areas of expenditure that they need to control as against increasing rates and taxes. Indeed, they must resist the attempts of this uncaring, selfish APNU+AFC government to increase rates and taxes, while they have already raised the cost of dozens of licences as well as fees, etc, through the instrument of the 2016 National Budget. Most of these increases will impact the ordinary poor residents in the local authority areas. They can realise more of the resources they need to provide services to their constituencies from their own efforts with the support of the residents.
Equally important, they should work assiduously to widen citizens’ participation and engage civil society; they should demand efficiency and accountability and improve the extent, the quality and the timeliness of the services they provide to residents. In short, they should demand accountability from the councils, the staff of the councils and the residents they serve.
And so, whether it is an RDC, NDC or municipal council, we must begin to reexamine, to monitor and be efficient in discharging our roles and responsibilities. We must ensure procurement procedures are followed; communities are provided with copies of bills of quantities so that they can help to monitor works in progress; that contractors deliver quality and timely work; that payments are made according to valuations of work in progress; that optimum use is made of standing committees so more councillors can be involved who can be tasked with addressing specific matters.
I am confident 80% to 85% of the new councils would vote PPP/C if only because they are fed up with the misrepresentations, discriminatory practices and incompetence of the APNU+AFC government and are aware that the PPP/C has always supported the people in words and deeds so they could achieve improvements in their own life goals. There are needs to be addressed and challenges to be met along the way, but with the PPP/C support they must resolve to develop our communities, villages, towns, regions and country, and in so doing, improve the lives of the Guyanese people. Let’s begin to look outside of the central government budget. We should be committed to fight for better communities for all. Our people are the greatest resource in our communities.
Yours faithfully,
Norman Whittaker
