Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 19, 2018 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
The present state of Guyana’s economy is a cause for concern of most Guyanese.
As the economy bleeds, NDCs and Municipalities must work to fill as much as possible the huge void in local economic development created by the poor 2016 and 2017 National Budgets presented by the APNU+AFC Government to the Guyanese people and their equally poor implementation.
Local Authorities must respond imaginatively to the challenges which confront us daily under the APNU+AFC Government.
The Government is obviously out of touch with the political and socio-economic realities in our Country and cares not about the wishes of the Guyanese people to improve their living standards. Indeed, many of the measures in the Government’s 2016 and 2017 Budgets have brought more hardships on the Guyanese people who must continue to pay a high price for the obvious critical mistakes. The promise of a good life remains an elusive dream for most Guyanese.
Local Government has an important role to play in providing some employment and services to citizens and, in the process, improving the well-being of the people. Local leaders are presumed to be closer to the people and to be better positioned to understand their needs and local circumstances, and to ensure these needs are realistic, feasible and are realized. Unfortunately, consultation by the Government with the local communities has been very limited.
The participatory democracy which local government is intended to engender goes beyond merely electing representatives. It allows for active participation as an individual and as a community in the decision and implementation processes through appropriate participatory mechanisms.
Though I concede that public participation can be time-consuming and costly, a socially acceptable compromise must be found. Our Municipal and NDC leaders and Councillors must reach out to the citizens including the business sector with greater frequency; planning with them and not merely for them.
The Government continues to display indifference and insensitivity to the needs and expectations of the Guyanese working class; more so those it perceives as being non supportive of it. The retrenchment of several thousands of sugar workers without any planned arrangement to contemporaneously pay them redundancy benefits stands out as a wicked manifestation of the administration’s obvious unconcern re the social costs to the affected unemployed workers and the affected rural communities of the closure of some sugar estates and the downsizing of others.
Indeed, there was obviously never an interest in saving sugar and, by extension, the livelihood of the workers, the shopkeepers, the taxi drivers and other service providers to the estate workers.
Challenging though it is, the Town Councils and the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils must work to establish strategic alliances with existing and potential businesses to enable them to grow and to expand, and ultimately to create opportunities for employment and income generation.
Our NDCs and Municipalities must by now have developed a vision for the development of their neighbourhoods and towns. They must be proactive and work assiduously to improve the way they do things and the results derived therefrom; to facilitate improvements in terms of the range and quality of services provided to residents and so develop viable communities that would sustain its own development programme and, by extension, itself.
Let me posit a number of measures which you ought to take or strengthen if they are already in place in order to bring about the desired livelihood improvements about which I speak:
Reduce dependency on Central Government for financial resources by inter alia, enhancing and widening revenue base and reducing expenses. Optimise collection of what is due to the Council in the form of rates and taxes, market fees, building application fees etc utilizing revenue collected efficiently and accounting for same.
Remember that under the Fiscal Transfers Act 2015, the Local Authority can receive grants from Donor Agencies to finance Projects or meet employment costs. It can also borrow money from the Commercial Banks and other Financial Institutions, provided it has the required collateral/ability to repay.
More money available to Council necessarily means that more resources are available to pay better salaries, attract a better quality of staff and to train and upgrade them. It means also that the Council and its staff can reach out with greater frequency and over a much wider population; listening to their concerns and working with them to address these concerns. More and better services can be provided to citizens.
There is a role and contribution to development for Private Enterprise in Local Government Areas; small though their impact maybe. To the extent that these interventions make a small impact on unemployment figures and provide goods and/or services e.g. clothing and textile, Supermarkets, Wash bay, Restaurants etc., it is nevertheless a case of action speaking louder than words. The Local Authorities must provide incentives to encourage Private Enterprise. The Government is not doing so; but certainly our Local Authorities can.
Expanding and improving the quality of the infrastructure and other services provided by the Council including servicing of kokers and pumps, cleaning of canals and drains, collection and disposal of garbage; daycare for elderly, street lighting, market/tarmac facilities, cemeteries etc thereby providing employment and extending the range and quality of services provided by the Local Authority working in conjunction with Private Enterprise.
Enhance service delivery and widen citizens’ involvement. Demand proper financial accounting and reporting. Council’s financial affairs must not be shrouded in secrecy. Increase public awareness and education. Hold community meetings with greater regularity and have activities such as Flag Raising, Day of Sports and religious events such as Diwali, Christmas day, Eid ul Ahza which bring people of all ages, gender, ethnicity and class together and provide also income earning opportunities on such occasions.
Audits of Financial records of Municipal and Neighbourhood Councils as per requirements of the Local Government and Municipal Legislation must be done and reports, including financial reports, must be presented to the Statutory Meetings of the Council for discussion. So that while efforts to intensify revenue collection must be encouraged; so also accountability to the Council and the residents for these resources.
We cannot be complacent if we are to build effective local governance with its benefits to the people.
Norman Whittaker
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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