Plateau may hold council polls in December

THE waiting game for local council polls in Plateau State may be over in December 2012, as there are strong indications that the Jonah Jang administration is set to conduct the exercise.This ray of hope is buoyed by thepresentation to the state House of Assembly before it proceeded on a recess by the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) Chairman, Mr. Peter Pwajok Dalyop, when he appeared before the lawmakers, who subpoenaed him on the non-conduct of elections at the grassroots.Dalyop had assured the lawmakers that the Commission had put everything in place to hold the election before the year ends.The silence of Commission on the conduct of the election since April this year when the chairmen, who were elected in 2008 were dissolved by Jang, has generated controversy among stakeholders.Sources said the alleged refusal of the governor to conduct election into the council to replace the management committee chairmen he appointed had made nonsense of democracy at the councils.Workers in the council have been on strike since June, as funds have not been released to pay salaries.Curiously, the government claims that releasing the funds to management committee chairmen is not possible because they are not elected and can, therefore, not judiciously use such monies.It is not the first time the governor is toeing this line of action. In 2008, he saved the allocations to the councils and released them to the elected chairmen. 'And the chairmen on assumption of office had huge amount of money to spend. Several contracts were awarded by those who were serious-minded. They initiated clinics, primary schools, construction and upgrading of roads, new council secretariats, schools, among others,' a government official said.In Mangu and Jos-South councils, there are befitting secretariats built by the chairmen while the chairman of Riyom Council built roads and constructed a stadium. In Shendam, there was a shopping complex, roads, renovation of schools, primary healthcare clinic. In Jos-North, the secretariat that housed the former Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB) was equally renovated.According to the official, 'these funds were saved by the governor from the local council subventions and he wants to do the same thing again.
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