Guyana’s Opposition Leader calls off local govt talks with President

Last Updated on Friday, 31 October 2014, 20:53 by GxMedia

President Donald Ramotar and Opposition Leader David Granger (file photo)

Guyana’s Opposition Leader, David Granger on Friday announced that he has called off talks with President Donald Ramotar on Local Government Elections.

Those polls have not been held since 1994 because of delays in local government legislative reforms and more recently government’s reluctance to do so because it lost its parliamentary majority in the 2011 general election.

Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had given government a September 15 ultimatum to name a date for the polls.

The President earlier this week basically ruled out the holding of the polls soon because APNU wants the local polls and  the Alliance For Change (AFC) has tabled a no confidence motion.

The Opposition Leader says that continuing talks with the President on Local Government Elections will be pointless. Mr. Granger disagrees that he was duped by the President into participating in the talks.

Most Local government councils have fallen into administrative disrepair due to death, migration and resignation of many office-holders. Poor drainage systems, bad roads,  poor public market conditions and inefficient waste collection are among major problems facing towns and villages.