Anachronism that is local govt

If one were to judge by the turnout of electors, this is of little if any importance to them — the population seems unconcerned with the devolution of power to the councils/boroughs, nor with the fact that they will directly collect certain taxes for their own use.

The population seems more concerned with the failure of local government bodies to deliver the services which is the raison d’etre for their existence.

The politicians on the other hand are more concerned with who won what seats or the council/borough itself — see the brouhaha on the Sangre Grande Corporation, totally ignoring the fundamental message that was sent by the historic low turnout of electors.

So much so that the Prime Minister, when this was brought to his attention by a reporter, stridently indicated that this was of no importance — he was concerned only with those who voted and not those who for whatever reason did not vote — this was about politics.

Personally, I agree with the PNM that local government is in dire need of reform, a reconstruction.

I also agree with the majority of voters who stayed away — local government in its present form is an absolute mismatch to the demands/ requirements of the population.

However, I do not support the changes being recommended by the PNM.

But, to fully explain we need to address the fundamentals of democracy and the place in it for party politics vis-a-vis that for professional and reliable delivery of services.

Democracy demands that the population select their representatives to sit in the various houses of Parliament — though our Senate includes Independents selected by the President.

The fundamental tasks of our Parliament are to pass legislation, make laws, monitor the performance of the Executive, allocate resources to the Executive based on its recommendations etc.

The major problem with our governance system is that the parliamentarians of the party that won the majority of seats also form the Executive that is also in charge of policy direction to the Public Service.

Indeed, there has been talk over the years of an executive president with an Executive not made up of parliamentarians, which draws the line more distinctly between the practice of politics in the Parliament and the business of running the country.

Local government is about providing certain services to the population at the regional level. These services are spelt out in the Parliament’s regulations and include garbage collection, repair and maintenance of roads/bridges, drains etc. Hence the activities of local government are generally about specific service provision, some construction and maintenance of infrastructure.

There is absolutely no need for overt party politics as we see in our current system or for the political autonomy that the Tobago House of Assembly holds so dear — a system in which for whatever reason the parties compete for control of the processes to provide these services.

So much so that local government bodies that are controlled by the Opposition ritually complain of not being given the resources to carry on their business.

Local government should not be about political competition.

It should be about putting in place non-political, professional and well qualified bodies charged with certain responsibilities and accountable to the Executive for their performance.

For example, T&TEC provides an energy service to the whole population. But there is no formal election to select board members, though the politicians have managed to convince themselves and the population that they have the right to demand the resignations of sitting board members and appoint others on, say, a change of government, so potentially damaging the professionalism/ expertise of an organisation.

My recommendation is that local government as a set of political institutions should be disbanded and be replaced by fewer non-partisan professional bodies charged with the delivery of agreed services.

Surely, these bodies have to provide channels such that its clients can complain or give suggestions as to quantity and quality of service.

Another approach is to establish regional sub-offices of relevant ministries where regional corporations now exist, but they must have the qualified staff necessary to carry out their functions efficiently.

MARY K KING St Augustine