Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor-Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

The Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) says it has no role in de­ter­min­ing or al­ter­ing the bound­aries of mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions, as it con­firmed it was not for­mal­ly con­sult­ed on the Gov­ern­ment’s pro­pos­al to es­tab­lish three new bor­oughs.

The Com­mis­sion said its re­spon­si­bil­i­ty is lim­it­ed to the de­lim­i­ta­tion of elec­toral dis­tricts, while the ex­ter­nal bound­aries of mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions fall out­side its re­mit.

The clar­i­fi­ca­tion comes as the Gov­ern­ment moves to re­struc­ture lo­cal gov­ern­ment by es­tab­lish­ing three ad­di­tion­al bor­oughs and ad­just­ing ex­ist­ing mu­nic­i­pal bound­aries.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia, the EBC said it pro­vid­ed da­ta to the Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment for its use but played no role in de­vel­op­ing or as­sess­ing the pro­posed bound­aries.

“With re­spect to the al­ter­ation of Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tion bound­aries, how­ev­er, the Com­mis­sion has nei­ther been asked for, nor has it pro­vid­ed, any ad­vice, as­sess­ment, re­view or rec­om­men­da­tion on the pro­posed bor­oughs or their bound­aries,” the EBC said.

Asked whether it had been for­mal­ly con­sult­ed be­fore the new bor­oughs and their pro­posed bound­aries were an­nounced, the Com­mis­sion said no.

“The Com­mis­sion was not for­mal­ly con­sult­ed on the pro­pos­als,” it said.

The EBC al­so did not of­fer a view on whether it agreed with the pro­posed bound­aries or con­fig­u­ra­tion of the three bor­oughs, say­ing that ques­tion falls out­side its re­spon­si­bil­i­ties.

How­ev­er, once the leg­is­la­tion is passed, the EBC said it will be re­quired to im­ple­ment the changes that fall with­in its man­date.

The Com­mis­sion al­so con­firmed that its ap­proval is not re­quired for the Gov­ern­ment to pro­ceed with changes to mu­nic­i­pal bound­aries.

It ex­plained that the bound­aries of mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions are pre­scribed un­der the Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tions Act, Chap. 25:04, mean­ing Par­lia­ment can al­ter them through amend­ments to the leg­is­la­tion.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has de­fend­ed the pro­posed lo­cal gov­ern­ment re­struc­tur­ing, say­ing the sys­tem has been un­der­per­form­ing for years and that the changes are in­tend­ed to im­prove ser­vice de­liv­ery and bet­ter re­flect the needs of com­mu­ni­ties.