Dear Editor,
I write in response to an article appearing in the Guyana press captioned “‘I can’t tell him what to do, or beat him’ – Manickchand on Region 10 five-month leadership impasse” in reference to her relationship with the Regional Executive Officer of Region 10. The Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Priya Manickchand is absolutely correct, regarding the ongoing leadership stalemate in Region 10. Her recent statement, “I have zero powers to instruct the person sitting next to me, to beat him,” perfectly encapsulates the bizarre and undemocratic legal reality that critics seem determined to ignore.
The facts are clear. In 2018, the then APNU+AFC government amended the Local Democratic Organs Act, deliberately stripping the Minister of any power to intervene in the election of a Regional Chairman. The law now prescribes a clear, multi-step process for the Regional Executive Officer (REO) and Clerk of Council to follow in the event of a tie, including multiple rounds of voting and a mathematical formula based on the proportional representation vote. Minister Manickchand is legally right to stay her hand, and it is disingenuous for anyone to suggest she can simply instruct REO Dwight John. He moves to the tune of the Permanent Secretary and the Local Government Commission who both dance to the music of His Excellency the President Mr. Irfaan Ali. The Minister in this case is nothing else but another creature of the Presidency; another glorified clerk as per this morally bankrupt Guyana Constitution.
Furthermore, the question must be asked: on whose authority does the REO, Dwight John, currently serve? It is my understanding that Minister Manickchand did not sign Mr. John’s contract. It was signed by the Permanent Secretary, whose own authority to act stems from an instrument issued by His Excellency the President. This suggests a chain of command that ultimately leads back to the Executive President of Guyana Mr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, creating a conflict of interest where the REO may feel more accountable to the President of Guyana than to the law or the people of Region 10.
This brings me to the most troubling aspect of this affair. We are witnessing an unholy alliance between the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the PNC led, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). By failing to compel the REO to follow the law and complete the election process, Freedom House and Congress Place are working in tandem to frustrate the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) team, which won the most votes in the region. APNU’s public statements of readiness appear as a smokescreen, while the PPP benefits from the chaos in an opposition-led region, which the APNU is facilitating.
It is time to see this “frustration” for what it is: an undemocratic power play by the two traditional parties who are determined to shut out the new third force. The people of Region 10 deserve their elected chairman, and the law must be followed, not held hostage by political convenience. I am hoping the Lindeners are observing how nasty the PNC and APNU leaders are; to use them as cannon fodder as a reward of punishment for them not staying with the PNC and APNU in the 2025 General Elections. All of Guyana must remember these undemocratic actions of the APNU leaders and the PPP leaders in the upcoming local government elections and I am heartened that the WIN Party plans to contest in every local authority. It is time to upturn this dynastic apple cart and share some “licks like peas” on these two parties with their fossilized way of thinking.