Thandeka Percival

Two representatives from the Carter Center yesterday met with members of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as part of an “exploratory mission” to gather information on preparations for the holding of General and Regional elections.

Ruling out the holding of general elections by the constitutional deadline, Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield maintained yesterday that July is the soonest that general elections can be held once the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) gives the approval for the start of preparations.

A meeting yesterday of the seven-member Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ended without a decision on the way forward on poll preparations.

Royston King has been fired from the post of Town Clerk and the Local Government Commission (LGC) has asked the police and the Auditor General to investigate his tenure as chief administrative officer of the Georgetown City Council.

Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan has urged the new Georgetown Mayor and City Council to commit to ensuring the proper management of the city and to closely monitor the actions of the administration in the implementation of their decisions and programmes.

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillors found themselves in the unlikely position of mediators after members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the 8th of May Movement (8MM) clashed at the first meeting of the new Beterverwag-ting/Triumph Neighbour-hood Democratic Council (NDC) last Friday.

A month after a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the operations of City Hall submitted its report, the Local Government Commission (LGC) appears to be struggling to implement its recommendations and might soon find itself embroiled in a legal challenge.

After seven hours of perfunctory debate the National Assembly descended into bedlam last night when Government Parliamentarian Charrandas Persaud voted in favour of a no-confidence motion brought against the government he represents.

Speaker Barton Scotland has referred PPP/C Chief Whip Gail Teixeira’s complaint against Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s participation in the National Assembly while he is performing the functions of President to the parliamentary committee on constitutional reform for a resolution.

As the National Assembly prepares to debate the 2019 budgetary estimates, opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo has signaled that the PPP/C intends to challenge the presence of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in the House.

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) set up to investigate the administration of City Hall has found that Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk Royston King “are not working in the best interest of the city” and has recommended that several officers, including King, be disciplined for abuse of office and other violations.

APNU councillor Pandit Ubraj Narine was elected Mayor of Georgetown when the new council was sworn in at City Hall yesterday, with fellow APNU councilman Alfred Mentore selected as his deputy.

Official results declared by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for the November 12th local government polls have confirmed a major win for the opposition PPP/C, which secured 61% of the votes, while APNU, the main partner in the governing coalition, managed 34%.

Consideration of the budgetary allocations for 16 constitutional agencies was yesterday delayed for five hours while the House struggled to provide the opposition with copies of the budgets as submitted to the Clerk.

The PPP/C now controls more Local Authority Areas and it picked up over twice the number of PR seats as its main competitor APNU.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday confirmed that a mere 36.3% or 208,534 of the 573,923 registered electors turned up to cast their ballots when the 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) were held across the country on Monday.

Following Monday’s Local Government Elections (LGE) the capital city of Georgetown will remain under the control of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which has secured 21 of its 30 seats but the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic has significantly increased its position at the council earning a total of seven seats at the Horseshoe table.

At each of the three convocation ceremonies hosted by the University of Guyana (UG) yesterday for its 2018 graduating class, Valedictorian Shakti Persaud encouraged her colleagues to work hard in silence and let their success be their noise.

Once again the question of zoning and accountability dominated a community engagement between residents of Georgetown’s Constituency Two and those who hope to represent them at City Hall.

Town Clerk Royston King yesterday attempted to justify City Hall’s practice of procuring goods and services without contracts by saying that its bankruptcy has meant that it must resort to expedient means.