By Stacy Carmichael-James
The Opposition People’s Progressive Party has expressed deep concern with the management of the local government system under the David Granger-led administration.
The PPP is disappointed that after almost four years the Local Government Commission is not yet operational and according to PPP executive Dr. Roger Luncheon, the gross and indecent delays continue to impact the residents in the local authority areas.
Dr. Luncheon said it is distressing for the PPP to keep bringing to the attention of the media and public the deep concern over the management of the local government system.
What is more upsetting to the PPP, Dr. Luncheon noted is the fact that the ministerial authority is being used in the absence of the Local Government Commission to discharge the will of the Government.
Dr. Luncheon deemed this “nothing short of an executive abuse of authority that allows the minister…the minister and his authority being used to the disadvantage of the residents in those local authority areas, in those communities and it has continued unabatedly. The minister and the ministry continue to delay the handling of financial exchanges, financial transactions a long drawn out procedure replaces what should be rather instant actions.”
Based on the statutes Dr. Luncheon said such intervention by the Ministry in the financial matters of the local authority areas is not warranted, “specifically challenging the minister, minister Bulkan about the delays in establishing the commission and indeed the ill-advised consequences of not having the commission in place and the minister usurping the authority and discharging it to the disadvantage of the residents,” Dr. Luncheon noted.
Minister Bulkan, Dr. Luncheon said has become the “King pin” and according to him, the PPP has sought over the years to remove ministerial authority and to repose it in the laws of Guyana.
In one swoop, he stressed, since the advent of the Coalition Government, the authority of the Ministers has knocked out a statutory mechanism in the management of the local government system.
