RDCs, municipalities meet Govt. on spending

GUYANA - Mayors and Town Clerks across Guyana, on Wednesday, met with members of the Communities and Finance Ministries, at the Tower Suites Hotel to discuss issues surroundings local government in Guyana. The all-day meeting saw deliberations which were held under the theme “Strengthening financial management for sustainable municipal development”. The meeting would come in the backdrop of complaints that some town councils and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), as well as the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), have been deliberately sabotaging state spending on projects.

Some of the entities are openly backing the Opposition and accused of sabotaging the spending. With the year almost done, a significant portion of the budget allocated for capital projects remain unspent.

Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Green, who was present at the meeting, said the morning discussion was very thought-provoking, especially since it drew attention to policies and processes that should be implemented as it relates to financial management. Ronald Bulkan, Minister of Communities and Mayors at the workshop“We have recognised that auditing has not been done for all of the municipalities over a number of years…we talked about expenditure, procurement and the policies that more or less are supposed to be in place,” Mayor Chase-Green said. She alluded to the session as a learning experience as she was able to gain clarity on several matters. “I hope the Ministry will have more of these sessions to bring mayors, town clerks and finance chairmen all up to date on the policies we ought to have in place…especially those places with internal auditing,” she said. Mayor of Bartica, Gifford Marshall, commended the Communities Ministry for organising what he described as an instructive session for all municipalities. “Financial management remains a major concern for all of the municipalities. And being one of the new municipalities, (Bartica), it’s an area in which we need capacity building and training,” Marshall stated. He added, “Meeting the relevant persons from the Ministry of Finance and Communities would have impacted us, and we look forward to more meaningful sessions like this.” Also, Mayor of Rose Hall, Vijay Ramoo explained that he has been advocating for gatherings like these for some time now, and is more than elated to have attended this consultation. “This session is very informative for me. I think it is the way forward for municipalities. Last year I told the minister, these are people who do not know about local government and if you do not educate them you will not get the services, they won’t be able to deliver… but today dealing with finance is important and that, I am proud of,” the Rose Hall mayor explained. The Municipalities are expected to enhance their financial management from the discussions at the all-day meeting. (Kaieuteur news)