The Government’s Chief Spokesman, Dr. Roger Luncheon on Wednesday announced that President Donald Ramotar has assent to three of the four Local Government Bills that were sent to him to sign into law.
According to Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Luncheon, President Ramotar has signed into law the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Municipals and District Councils (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill. He did not give his assent to the Local Government (Amendment) Bill.
Dr. Luncheon did not go into details over the decision not to sign that particular piece of legislation into law but explained that the Government still had some reservations about sections of the Bill. He said it will be dealt with eventually the same way that the other Bills were addressed.
The decision not to assent to all four bills could further delay the holding of Local Government elections since the bills would set the stage for full local government reform and prepare the way for the hosting of local government polls which have not been held in the past 19 years.
The international community has been pressing the administration to host local government elections. When the bills were passed by the National Assembly, the move was welcomed by a number of Ambassadors who believe the passage set the stage for local government democracy to be realized.
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