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After repeated demands by the AFC, the Government has tabled three of the required Bills of Local Government Reform in Parliament, with a promise to lay the outstanding Bills by today, June 10, 2009.
Once all these Bills would have been tabled in Parliament, the AFC will participate in the deliberations of the Special Select Committee established to review these Bills.
However, our original position remains unchanged: ALL Local Governance Bills must be passed in the National Assembly at the same time.
Information has already been received that it is the Government’s intention to have this Special Select Committee review the Local Authority (Election) (Amendment) Bill 2009 first, after which they intend to present this Bill to the Parliament before the completion of the review of the other Bills before the Select Committee.
The Government is using the guise that GECOM requires the enactment of this Act to continue preparation of Local Government Elections; we however shall not be swayed, since Local Government Elections without the associated Local Government Reforms will result in a reversion to the unacceptable status quo – well meaning elected citizens without the tools to properly control and execute their mandate.
With regard to the completion of house-to-house registration (Claims and Objections Period) and the issuance of new national ID cards, the AFC notes that GECOM is already wholly behind schedule on these activities. It is our hope that in their haste to prepare for Local Government Elections, these activities are not severely abbreviated, since this current house-to-house registration exercise will be the LAST in the country’s history (after this exercise, we switch to continuous registration). Getting a creditable and acceptable National Registration List is as important as running off Local Government Elections.
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