Devolution can lead to greater political stability - Alexander By Oscar P. Clarke Stabroek News August 7, 2000 Devolution of power from the centre can enhance political stability in the country, a seminar on decentralisation was told on Thursday by UG lecturer Vincent Alexander. There were more questions than answers amidst the tumult of heckling and collapsing plastic chairs that provided a colourful backdrop to the Public Forum on Decentralisation held in the concert hall of the Georgetown city council. The forum which was attended by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds also had in attendance mayors of the various municipalities along with some councillors and other persons familiar with the local government sector. With contrasting presentations by the two main speakers, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Philomena Sahoye-Shury and Local Government lecturer at the University of Guyana (UG), Alexander, local government practitioners questioned how changes in the sector could be achieved. The forum which was sponsored by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is geared according to Director of the Institute, John Hefferman, to assist in democracy building in a range of areas. Sahoye-Shury who spoke first saw participation at the recent conference on decentralisation in Scotland, United Kingdom, as rewarding and stimulating. She said it allowed the 16 delegates from sister Commonwealth nations to learn more about each other's experiences. The meeting, stated Sahoye-Shury, recognised that decentralisation was the way to go but questioned how it was to be achieved. She described the local regional system as three-tiered with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and the village councils which are supplemented by one city and four town councils. A pre-requisite to the successful implementation of the process of decentralisation, according to the local government Parliamentary Secretary, the geography of the country apart, was to know within which context the change should occur. Alexander in his presentation observed that decentralisation meant different things to different people while some viewed it as a means to an end others saw it as a political phenomenon. These two trends, stated Alexander, were manifested at the conference with some of the delegates advocating it as a mechanism whereby they could recapture nationhood while others viewed it as a means of achieving efficiency, democratisation and self-determination. According to the UG lecturer, the hosts of the conference, Scotland, and Ireland did not speak of local government in the traditional sense as it was known locally but instead saw it approaching a point where they could achieve autonomy from Great Britain. The issue of indigenous peoples, stated Alexander, was raised at the meeting concerning their right to self-determination apart from other groups due to the argument that they had suffered conquest and colonisation. Others, he noted, opted to speak about federalism in the context of decentralisation. There was talk too, he added, of Guyana being divided into four states - namely south and north Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara. He questioned the right of any single group in the country to self-determination especially as they all at some period in history were brought to this country and so equally shared in its development. No single group, he posited, could identify with any particular area in Guyana since there were no distinctive ethnic enclaves as in some other states. Alexander, recently identified as a possible successor to PNC leader Desmond Hoyte, in his presentation also examined some benefits of decentralisation to the local administration. The devolving of authority, he stated, could help local people contribute to their own needs assuming that everyone wanted similar objectives. According to Alexander, the devolution of power could also lead to greater penetration of centralised policy by local authorities leading to the national interest being more readily pursued. Decentralisation, apart from allowing little groups which attract little importance outside their local areas to have a greater say on the local scene, could also aid in capacity building whereby local administrations could over time develop a state of urbanisation. This, he posited, would allow the centre to focus exclusively on formulating policy since at present it is involved in both formulation and implementation. Another key benefit of decentralisation is its likely effect in assisting with the erosion of local elitist groups. Essentially for Guyana, according to Alexander, the devolution of power from the centre to the region had the consequence of increasing political stability by moving attention away from national politics, reducing the struggle for a greater share of the national cake. It could also ensure better economies of scale, stated the UG lecturer. The programme, Hefferman said, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and is involved in the areas of legislation, the rule of law, elections, and civil society, with special emphasis on the development of women, youths and the indigenous people. Local government, he stated, was the key in allowing people in their respective areas to be leaders of development. Following the presentations by Sahoye-Shury and Alexander, the floor was opened to questions when various local government personalities rose to query aspects of the proposed amendments to the constitution. Questions centred around the rights of the Amerindians and Africans to ancestral lands, and whether the proposed changes to the system could assist in redressing the current political instability. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today