Hosein: Government has tabanca after Privy Council loss

BARATARIA/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein claimed that the Government is upset about having to call local government elections after the Privy Council ruled on May 18, that a decision to extend the life of local government corporations by a year was unlawful.

He made this claim in his contribution to debate on the Municipal Corporations (Extension of Terms of Office and Validation) Bill 2023, in the House of Representatives on Monday.

In its judgment, the Privy Council said the extension of the life of local government bodies was unlawful.

On this point, Hosein said this was obvious because local government does not have any measures enshrined in the Constitution to protect it. He observed that Guyana has such safeguards for local government.

Hosein claimed there was one reason why Government was reluctant to accept the core of the judgment which deemed the extension unlawful.

"They have a tabanca when they lose."

He said it was unfortunate that it took "a court in England to tell TT what to do."

Hosein claimed that by extending the life of local government corporations, the Government substituted for the electorate.

He agreed with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that the terms of office of local government councillors and aldermen had expired.

Against that background, Hosein asked what actions the bill was designed to validate.

He demanded that the Prime Minister be "pellucidly clear in this House today and call the election date."

Earlier in the sitting, Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi said local government elections had been postponed seven times in the past, and there was no sinister attempt behind any of those postponements.

He cited election postponements in 2002-03, 2003-2006 and 2006-2010 as periods used to implement local government reform.

Al-Rawi said those efforts did not work because the UNC did not want local government reform.