Mark, Joseph cross swords

Speaking during debate on the bill, Mark said the legislation was “hatched in the heart of Balisier House” and would be used by the Government to hijack democracy under “the fig leaf of local government reform.”

Recalling Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s May 26 statement in the House of Representatives that this year’s local government polls would be postponed for one year to undertake constitutional reform at local government level, Mark said the Opposition was not buying this reason.

He said the UNC was concerned about Clause 2(b) of the bill which only allowed the elected councillors to continue in office for a period of one year, from July 13, but these councillors had to elect aldermen and subsequently mayors who would serve for the same period.

Declaring that “old habits die hard” in the PNM, Mark claimed the Government wanted to take over the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation and the Chaguanas Borough Corporation in the way it allegedly won the Ortoire/Mayaro seat in the 2002 general elections. He charged that Joseph, who was PNM campaign manager for that seat in 2002, had colluded with Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Abu Bakr to win that seat.

Claiming the PNM postponed local government polls in 1995 and 2002 under similar circumstances, Mark said Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis agreed with the UNC’s position on December 19, 1995 that all members of local government bodies continue in office if the life of those bodies were extended.

Mark urged Government to withdraw the bill and threatened to take the matter all the way to the Privy Council if the legislation is passed by the Parliament. In response, Joseph said Government was not attempting to undermine any local government body through the bill. He said when the lives of local government bodies extended in 1995 and 2005, advisory committees were formed to assist in the interim.

However, Joseph said those committees made management of the corporations difficult and the approach outlined in the bill was more democratic. He said PNM and UNC councillors could elect whomever they wanted as aldermen, mayors and chairmen and any changes in the leadership of the corporations would be “incidental.”

Joseph said while sinister moves may be afoot within the UNC, such was not the case with the legislation and no UNC MP in the Lower House opposed the bill on Wednesday before it was passed. He dismissed Mark’s claims that he ever had any ties to Bakr.

Independent Senator Dr Eastlyn McKenzie wondered whether local government bodies were fully consulted before it came to Parliament and said there were some grey areas in the bill which needed clarification. McKenzie said Parliament should agree to extending the life of the local government bodies because failure to do so would cause a disruption in the delivery of services to the population.