WIN weighing legal options for Region 10 council chairmanship

Last Updated on Friday, 28 November 2025, 9:33 by Writer

We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) is weighing its options concerning the failure of the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), Dwight John to call another meeting of the 18 councillors to elect a new regional chairman following the September 1 general and regional elections.

Mr John declined to immediately comment, but WIN Leader Azruddin Mohamed said his party was mulling whether to go ahead with planned legal action to force the REO to call a second or possibly additional meetings. “I have to consult with my attorney because to be honest, I don’t know if we take legal action now even that will delay the process further,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Mohamed said his party had so far heard nothing from the REO. “So far it looks like they want to delay the process because this is what the PPP (People’s Progressive Party) is good for. They don’t care about Region 10 and regional development,” he said.

Region 10 was the only one of Guyana ten admninistrative districts for which the regional chairman and vice chairman were not sworn in by President Irfaan Ali on Thursday.

Speaking with reporters shortly after that event, Dr Ali said he was relying on Guyana’s Constitution to have the matter resolved. “I am sure that within the ambit of the Constitution and within the ambit of the rules of any elections that the chair and vice chair of Region 10 will be sworn in at the appropriate time when they conclude their elections. As you know, that process is still ongoing,” he told reporters.

No further internal Region 10 council election was held after the 9-9 tie between WIN and APNU over APNU’s Dominique Blair and WIN’s Mark Goring for the post of chairman in October.

Meanwhile, the stalemate over Region 10’s chairmanship and vice chairmanship has spilled over into both the municipal and regional council governance systems. Linden Town Clerk Lennox Gasper said that issue centres on Mr Blair’s refusal to resign from the post of deputy mayor.

Mr Blair has reportedly so far resisted demitting office on the grounds that the law does not prohibit him being both the Deputy Mayor and the Regional Chairman, potentially, at the same time. Mr Gaspar said he has since asked the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall to advise him.