Nine months after the first and only statutory meeting of the Region 10 Regional Democratic Council (RDC), there is still no substantive Regional Chairman or Deputy Chairman in place, leaving the council unable to hold meetings, establish committees or fully perform its functions.
Despite the recent appointment of new Regional Executive Officer (REO) Gregory Harris, opposition officials say there has been no movement towards resolving the impasse that has plagued the Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice administration since October 2025.
“There has been no development with that issue,” We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Member of Parliament Dr Ryan Richards told Kiskadee Watch yesterday.
“We asked Minister of Local Government Priya Manickchand about it and she made the excuse that the amendment to the Act in 2018 removed the power of the minister… but our stance was that you don’t have to play a part; you can give your REO instructions because he falls under your ministry.”
Richards argued that while amendments to the Local Democratic Organs Act removed the minister’s authority to directly intervene in regional electoral deadlocks, the ministry still exercises administrative oversight over Regional Executive Officers. “The REO is your subordinate; you can tell them it’s been a long time and this thing must be resolved; let’s get it done. But that has not happened,” he said.
According to Richards, the absence of a Chairman and Deputy Chairman has effectively rendered the Region 10 council inoperable.
“The regional council remains incomplete. If you don’t have these officers, it means that you cannot hold statutory meetings. There are no committees formed in the RDC; no public works, education, health; nothing. It means that your regional councillors who were elected cannot perform effectively,” he said.
Richards also noted that former Regional Chairman Deron Adams, who continues to perform the role of chairman, is receiving pay, while current Vice Chairman Mark Goring is not.
Contacted yesterday by Kiskadee Watch, the newly appointed REO, Dr Harris, declined to comment on the issue.
The deadlock dates back to October 10, 2025, when the newly elected RDC held its first and only statutory meeting. Following the September local government elections, WIN secured nine of the council’s 18 seats, APNU won five, the PPP/C three and the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) one.
At that meeting, voting for the position of Regional Chairman ended in a 9-9 tie between APNU candidate Dominique Blair and WIN candidate Goring, a former regional vice chairman. WIN subsequently accused APNU, the PPP/C and FGM of voting together to prevent it from assuming control of the council.
Since then, neither the government nor the ruling PPP/C has publicly called for the council to be reconvened.
On January 22, WIN and FGM signed a joint resolution demanding the immediate reconvening of the RDC, a move that would have given the two parties a combined 10-8 majority if another vote had been held. They also wrote to Manickchand, citing the absence of statutory committees, the exclusion of councillors from budget preparation and the lack of representative leadership for approximately 40,000 residents.
Vice Regional Chairman Goring told this publication that he had sought to engage the new REO but had seen no progress. “So far, we have done everything possible that we could have done,” Goring said, adding, “I engaged the new REO. I saw him meet with the Mayor and City Council, the community; everyone except the 18 councillors. All it needs is a meeting to make the appointments, but it has clearly become a political issue.”
“The REO is now doing the councillors’ job, going out and meeting with the public. There is no statutory meeting, committee meeting, financial meeting, no meetings in terms of giving accountability and transparency in the council. So there is total chaos in the council and corruption,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, Manickchand had rejected suggestions that she could intervene in the matter, citing amendments made to the Local Democratic Organs Act in 2018 under the APNU+AFC administration.
The minister said that prior to the amendments, ministers had authority to intervene in certain administrative deadlocks, including making determinations in tied elections for regional leadership positions. However, she said those powers were deliberately removed by the previous administration, leaving the minister with “zero powers” to instruct, advise or influence officials within the regional administration.
Manickchand further argued that any attempt by her to intervene would expose her office to allegations of bias and would amount to a breach of the law.
APNU Member of Parliament Terrence Campbell told Kiskadee Watch yesterday that the Region 10 deadlock highlighted longstanding deficiencies in Guyana’s regional governance framework.
“The appointment of the new REO has not resulted in any progress towards the elections,” Campbell said. “The Constitutional Reform Commission has invited submissions and I believe an essential area of constitutional reform is regional administration.”
Campbell observed that successive governments had traditionally appointed political loyalists to regional administrative posts, particularly in opposition-controlled regions, and called for reforms that would provide for a more independent appointment process.
“We need constitutional reform so that those who are appointed either come through some kind of independent method or that they are appointed by those who have been elected by the voters in the region to administer their affairs,” he said.
He added that legislation aimed at strengthening regional democratic governance has been on the books since 2013 but has never been fully implemented by any administration.
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