THE idea that four western missions in Guyana felt that it was necessary to call for local government elections, while saying that there is no valid justification for any further delay, and that it has become a persistent drag on Guyana’s national development is a national embarrassment.

Sounds like the poor locals are not yet ready to rule themselves. As I have repeatedly written, why has the government long ago not given a deadline to the opposition for holding local government elections, regardless of whether all four pending legislative pieces were approved or not? Any agreement made to hold up elections pending the passage of all four legislative pieces has to have a reasonable shelf life, and cannot deny regional voters a voice in their affairs indefinitely, due to the wrangling of political parties. This is a real travesty, seeing that this is one basic form of the power sharing the opposition keeps demanding. Surely, one or more of the legislation now in the Select Committee can be agreed on, while splitting the difference on the others. It seems that foreign advice is always better received than from ordinary Guyanese.

Added to the shameful behaviour above, is the news from Carl Greenidge, saying none of the parliamentary parties has formally submitted their nominees for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), a commission that the opposition will control and have been demanding to be formed for years. Coupled with the inactivity of most committees, this does not bode well for the improved governance promised. It seems that the parties may be beginning to fall into the following caricatures - Self Righteous and Self Absorbed, Self Serving and Self Promoting, Self Destructive and Self Defeating. Whom so ever the shoe fits!