The Fiji Local Government Officers Association hopes that the municipal council elections working group could also be extended to include former councillors, union and relevant stakeholders.
While welcoming the announcement by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, association president Rouhit Singh said he looked forward to participating in the municipal council elections which they hope would be held at the earliest possible time.
“It will be a true return of democracy for ratepayers and citizens of municipalities to deal with their own issues,” he said.
“For too long, FLGOA has seen that most of the decision has been dictated by the ministry and the role of special administrators was somewhat undermined.
“Despite the legislative power and authority, we have to fall back to the ministry for approval of many decisions.”
He said with the election of new CEOs and special administrators, they hoped that their issues would be resolved.
“The unions are currently left in a dilemma as some of the CEOs and acting CEOs are not able to arrange meetings with special administrators’ Mr Singh said.
“Some councils have not been able to meet for the past six months to deliberate on workers’ issues and this shows incompetence of those in authority.
“FLGOA is there to assist where possible with intention of good faith.
“The elected councillors will uphold the principles of democracy, transparency and it will be easy to discuss issues of relevance with a shorter turnover time.”
Mr Singh added that the issues surrounding local government administration should also be investigated.
“The issues surrounding local government administration and operations should be investigated and cleared.
“For too long it has been noted that our members are falsely implicated of corrupt practices.
“The truth has to be revealed and elected council members should take control and take charge. “Nothing should be hidden and transparency must prevail.”
