Intergovernmental Profile: Guyana

Guyana’s intergovernmental architecture has evolved at three levels, based on the constitutional provision that “Parliament may provide for the division of Guyana … into ten regions and other subdivisions … for the purpose of organising local democratic organs.” At the regional level, there are ten elected Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs). At the local level, legislation provides for Municipal Councils (in urban areas) and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) in non-urban areas. Village Councils are established under the Amerindian Act (2006) for the purpose of provide a representative local governance mechanism to villages that are inhabited by Amerindian peoples. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (MLGRD) manages the relation with municipalities and oversees the work of regional and local councils; the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs manages the relationship with Guyana’s First Peoples, including the Village Councils.

Despite the fact that the Local Democratic Organs Act (1980) declares that subnational institutions shall be corporate bodies, there are strong vertical controls in Guyana’s intergovernmental system. Despite their elected nature, RDCs should be considered non-devolved entities, as regional councils lack authoritative control over regional administrations. Instead regional administrations are budgetarily and administratively deconcentrated organizations of the central government: Regional Executive Officers and regional staff are part of the central public service (under the control of MLGRD) and regional budgets are contained in the central government budget as territorially deconcentrated budget votes alongside central government ministries. At the local level, Municipal Councils and NDCs take on the form of hybrid local governance institutions, as these institutions have some features of devolved local governments but lack authoritative control over their own officers (Clerk or Overseer) and staff. Instead, the Local Government Commission (an organ of the central government) is responsible for the employment, transfer, discipline, and dismissal of officers and staff for all local government organs (including municipalities and NDCs). The Local Government Act further grants the Minister “superintendence of all village and country districts in Guyana, and shall have and exercise general powers of supervision, inspection and control”. For instance, after a local authority approves its budget estimates, the Minister “may approve them either in its entirety or subject them to such changes as he may think fit.” At the lowest level, elected Village Councils function as institutions for communal representation and decision-making (including the regulation of village lands), but these bodies lack administrative organs or executive officers–and should therefore be considered non-devolved entities.

Regional Democratic Councils elaborate plans and budgets in the areas of regional administration; education; health; agriculture and public works. These plans and budgets are transmitted to the central government through REOs and MLGRD as inputs into the central government budget. At the local level, municipalities and NDCs are in charge of typical local functions, such as the construction of local roads, maintenance of drainage infrastructure, provision of waste management, management of markets, as well as land use planning and regulation. Amerindian village councils function as bodies for communal representation and management of village lands; they are not assigned powers or responsibilities for the delivery of public services.