A meeting between the government and APNU yesterday agreed that local government reform bills will be reintroduced before the National Assembly goes into recess on August 10 so that progress can be made towards the convening of long-delayed local government elections.

A statement today from APNU said that the Alliance For Change was invited to attend the meeting but did not.

APNU said the government team comprised President Donald Ramotar, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon and Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira. APNU’s team comprised Brigadier (rtd) David Granger and MPs Joseph Harmon and Deborah Backer.

According to the release, at the meeting, Granger raised a number of issues including “arbitrary transfer of neighbourhood overseers; dissolution of Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and installation of the new Interim Management Committees; allocation of resources for Regional Democratic Council Demerara-Mahaica Region (No. 4) and local government reform and local government elections.”

In recent weeks, APNU has excoriated the government over its replacement of NDC’s with handpicked persons. Citizens have resisted these attempts, notably at Kwakwani. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government, the Bartica NDC was recently replaced. On Sunday, APNU said that it did not recognize this replacement in one of its traditional strongholds.

Granger in a comment in the press release on the recent installation of IMCs, said that “it was evident that the local government system was in crisis.” He added that residents were not being consulted and that local democracy was being trampled upon.

Extracted from Stabroeknews