Local Gov’t (Amendment) Bills introduced in National Assembly

Georgetown : Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Ganga Persaud during today’s Sitting of the National Assembly introduced the Local Government (Amendment) Bill number 12 of 2012 and the Local Government Commission Bill number 13 of 2012, which were read for the first time and sent to a Special Select Committee.
The main thrust of the Local Government (Amendment) Bill is to include the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in the local government system, whilst making consequential amendments and increasing penalties in a number of areas.
The Amendment also gives the Minister of Legal Affairs the power to prescribe by order, fees payable for any process, including the process of parate execution.
 Minister Persaud said that the Local Government Commission Bill is in total, an act to establish the commission as catered for by Article 78 (a) of the constitution to provide for the commission’s functions and procedure and for connected and incidental purposes.
When established, the Local Government Commission will have  the power to deal with all matters relating to the regulation and staffing of local government organs and with dispute resolution within and between local government organs; specifically; monitoring and reviewing the performance and implementation of policies of all local government organs amongst others.
 The Commission will also have power to initiate and conduct investigations into the activities of any local government organ.