Guyana's Constitution of 1980 - Guyana

Right to housing 

Every citizen has the right to proper housing accommodation. 

 

Personal property 

Every citizen has the right to own personal property which includes such assets as dwelling houses and the land on which they stand, farmsteads, tools and equipment, motor vehicles and bank accounts. 

 

The environment 

1.    Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being. 

2.    The State shall protect the environment, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures designed to- 

a.    prevent pollution and ecological degradation;

b.    promote conservation; and 

c.    secure sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development. 

 

Democratic state with a healthy economy 

To ensure that Guyana is a democratic State with a healthy economy, the State shall- 

1.        facilitate the engagement of citizens in activities designed to achieve their sustainable livelihoods; 

2.        progressively remove the barriers that prohibit or limit the realisation of the potential for self-sustaining activities in such fields as agriculture, processing, manufacturing and artistic and information-based activities; 

3.        encourage and support the self-mobilisation of citizens: and 

 

1. It shall be the primary duty of local democratic organs to ensure in accordance

with law the efcient management and development of their areas and to

provide leadership by example.

2. Local democratic organs shall organise popular co-operation in respect of the

political, economic, cultural and social life of their areas and shall co-operate with

the social organisations of the working people.

3. It shall be the duty of local democratic organs to maintain and protect public

property, improve working and living conditions, promote the social and cultural

4. life of the people, raise the level of civic consciousness, preserve law and order,

consolidate the rule of law and safeguard the rights of citizens.

Regional development programme to be integrated into the national development plans 

The development programme of each region shall be integrated into the national development plans, and the Government shall allocate funds to each region to enable it to implement its development programme.

 

Local Government.

1. Local Government is a vital aspect of socialist democracy and shall be organised so as to involve as many people as possible in the task of managing and developing the communities in which they live.

2. For this purpose Parliament shall provide for the institution of a country-wide system of local government through the establishment of organs of local democratic power as an integral part of the political organisation of the State.