CEPEP to be contracted to village and community councils

CEPEP will be contracted to the village and community councils in order to provide services for their community. This is one of the pledges of the PNM’s Local Government manifesto. Another pledge is to allocate the country’s resources to all communities in an equitable fashion. Deputy Political Leader Ken Valley gave highlights of the manifesto at the party’s launch at Woodford Square on Saturday. He said the PNM’s plans for local government were disrupted in 1995 when it lost office. “And now that we are back, we are eager to continue with the reform agenda for local government,” he said. He said the PNM would provide for greater autonomy and responsibility for local government bodies while making them more accountable to their community. He said the PNM would develop new arrangements for funding local government activities. Saying that the PNM would introduce programme funding as the critical basis  for funding local government bodies from the central purse, Valley stated: “No longer would capital expenditure programmes have to be stopped because money is returned to the Treasury at the end of the year. Those funds must be (left) there so that those programmes can be completed in the new year,” he said. He said the PNM was pursuing the “push up” rather than “trickle down” theory of development.

The party is also promising a neighbourhood Home Care facility, training for community leaders, Drug Abuse and Alcohol Prevention treatment and rehabilitation programme, the Youth Placement Service, Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Social Development programme for all communities. The PNM is promising greater decentralisation, with central government focussing more and more on policy formulation, while local government bodies assume more responsibility for implementation of this policy, Valley said. He said the PNM would change the structure and functions of local government bodies to enable them to plan and organise their affairs towards the achievement of community-oriented goals. Valley said the village community councils may once more have pride of place. He added that in order to facilitate this process PNM would introduce legislation to incorporate the Association of Village and Community Councils. He said the PNM would improve the human capital in local government through training, institutional strengthening and capacity building.