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Django

April 6, 2016 Source

…PPP walks out during voting process

By Alva Solomon
AFTER another deadlock was broken yesterday afternoon, former educator, Henry Rupert Smith was declared Mayor of Mabaruma, Region One’s first chief citizen.

Smith’s APNU+AFC colleague, businesswoman Ashtrilla ‘Trilly’ Gammel was elected Deputy Mayor.

The council met for the second time yesterday following last Saturday’s statutory meeting of the town council, which ended in a deadlock, at the Learning Resource Centre at Mabaruma.

At 1:30 pm yesterday, voting for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor commenced at the same venue and both sides, the APNU+AFC and the Opposition PPP, nominated their respective candidates for the two top posts.

Smith, a former Headmaster at the North West Secondary School and other primary institutions in the sub-region, was nominated by his colleagues, while Victor Emmanuel was nominated by the PPP. At this point Town Clerk Ovid Morrison reported that there was a tie and he subsequently suspended the meeting for 15 minutes.

The suspension was taken to chart a way forward based on advice form Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan. At this point the PPP councillors walked out of the meeting, deeming as unconstitutional the course of action taken by the Town Clerk.

After the resumption, the meeting was called to order, and given the absence of the PPP councillors, Smith was elected to the post of Mayor, while Gammel was elected shortly after to be his deputy.

The Mayor then acted in his official capacity for voting to commence to elect members to serve on the municipality’s finance committee. Those persons elected to that committee include Councillor Jude Hernandez, chairman of the body, Councillors Cleveland December, Lorenzo Daniels and PPP Councillor Victor Emmanuel, who was voted to serve on the body as its Vice-Chairman.

Smith and Gammel are expected to be sworn into their respective posts today in the capital city at an official ceremony at the Ministry of the Presidency on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive.

At last month’s Local Government Elections (LGE), the Mabaruma Municipality recorded a tie in the seats for the six constituencies contested by the APNU+AFC and the PPP. As a result, each party obtained six seats each on the 12-member Mabaruma Town Council.

At the March 18 LGE polls, the APNU+AFC gained the majority of votes at Mabaruma Settlement/Barimanobo, Mabaruma Township/Mabaruma Compound, Broomes Estate and at Kumaka.

The Opposition PPP on the other hand won the majority of votes at Hosororo Hill, Barabina-Koberimo and at Thomas Hill-Smith Creek.

Meanwhile, reports are that the Opposition PPP may challenge the outcome of yesterday’s meeting in the courts.

Mabaruma is one of three new areas across the country which has obtained township status. The others include Bartica and Lethem. The Mabaruma Town Council will meet again on April 20, 2016 at 10 am.

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DjangoAdmin

PPP/C councillors boycott elections in Bel Air/Woodlands NDC

April 6, 2016 Source

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party Councillors at the Woodlands/Bel Air Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in West Coast Berbice on Tuesday walked out of a meeting held to elect the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the NDC.This was one of the NDCs which have an equal number of seats allocated to both the APNU+AFC and the PPP. The walkout occurred after Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, in keeping with the legal provisions, appointed APNU+AFC Councillor Carol Nurse as Chairperson.

The minister’s intervention led to two of the PPP/C councillors immediately leaving the meeting. Then PPP/C observers Harry Gill, MP, and Faizal Jaffarally prompted the other two, as well as the Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal, who was there as an observer, to walk out. In the absence of the four PPP/C councillors, the APNU+AFC Councillors elected Winston Vyphius as Vice-Chairman.

In the LGE held in 1994, the PPP had commanded the majority of the seats in the Woodlands/Bel Air NDC.

Meanwhile, the minister was again forced to intervene in a tie for the Chairmanship of the Woodlands/Farm NDC in Mahaicony. It comprises sixteen councillors. He appointed APNU+AFC Candidate Gersham Clarke as Chairman. The PPP councillors did not walk out though. There was then a tie in votes for the vice-chairman, and this tie remained unresolved up to late yesterday afternoon. The PPP/C had won the majority of the seats at the LGE at Woodlands/Farm NDC in 1994. In LGE 2016 results announced recently, of the ten NDCs in Region 5, the PPP/C won four and the APNU+AFC won four with ties in the remaining two.

Despite boycotting the elections for chairman and vice-chairman at Woodlands/Bel Air, The PPP/C councillors can still retain their seats on the Council.

4/6/167:46 AM

VishMahabirSenior Member

Not sure what the PPP is doing here....they seem to be digging a deeper hole for themselves.

4/6/169:21 AM

NehruBig Mouth Member

Why call Bullshitkan???????? That seems illegal or at least inappropriate BUT it is how PNC does things. Shameless Barbarians!!!!!!!!!

4/6/1610:08 AM

Former Member

Once again we see the emergence of the old PNC where bullyism and fraud becomes the rule of law. They clearly have no mandate but they apply the PNC despotic benchmark to thwart the will of the people and impose their will as they see fit.

This new president and his inner circle are just wolves in sheep's clothing pretending to want to usher in a new day in political and ethnic relations in Guyana but embark on a path of "might in right". They are making the same mistake as the first time around and will reap the same result. The shadows of the past are back front and center!

4/6/162:13 PM

Former Member

ba$eman posted:
Once again we see the emergence of the old PNC where bullyism

There are specific rules that are being followed. If there is a deadlock in votes then the minister is given a right, to remove the deadlock, by casting his vote.

The only mandate that the PPP got was WITHIN the 48 NDCs, and the 3 municipalities that they won!

Why would a party member support some one from another party.

Here is the deal. The PPP is a brown bai KKK party, which calls itself the "coolie people party", and then boasts that it "consolidated the East Indian support base".

Why the shock when the majority of the population, who don't self identify as Indian, then don't vote for them, which then creates a scenario where the PPP loses control.

In 1994 the PPP won 48 out of 65 NDCs. In 2016 the PPP also won 48, even though there are now 6 more NDCs.

The PPP, obsessed with being the "coolie people party", and terrified that it is losing the support of this base, so must boast that it "consolidated the East Indian support base", now sees that it is losing power in places where Indians do not dominate.

4/6/165:37 PM

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…PPP walks out during voting process

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