After the local govt election, what next?

My own view is that commentators have tended to view this exercise as a referendum into the performance of the 14-month PNM Government without recognising that there are, traditionally, fundamental flaws in the mechanisms and modus operandi of local government bodies in Trinidad (and in Tobago) which militate against the participation of the voter at this level of the political process.

Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned has been, unfortunately, the reconfirmation of the polarisation of the electorate along racial lines. It follows, therefore, that policy objectives were of very little consequence in determining how a voter was influenced to cast his/her vote.

Indeed, a feature of the campaign was the failure of the PNM to articulate properly, for the benefit of the electorate, its much-vaunted proposals for local government reform.

In this regard, I direct attention to my letter under the caption, “Is this a local government election campaign?” The implication is that what was being experienced in the campaign was, in effect, a situation which was being cast in the fashion of a central government election campaign, with not much being articulated in terms of local government.

Thus one heard on both major sides of the political divide allegations of alleged mismanagement, nepotism and corruption without the “poor” voter being made aware as to what was in store for him or her at the level of local government.

It is not surprising, therefore, that a sizeable section of the population decided that this election was of no intrinsic consequence to him/her and chose not to participate fully in the exercise by not casting their vote.

Another important consideration is that there has, traditionally, been no clear nexus between the local government representative and the citizenry. Indeed, one hears of complaints that, after a local government election, no one sees the councillor for a district.

It seems that councillors tend to find themselves, as it were, “subsummed” to the wishes and fancies of the MP for the area, thus resulting in the councillor having no independent status of his or her own.

I would postulate that unless this situation were corrected, the existence of the local government representative will always be of little consequence to the voter and herein lies one fundamental flaw which must be addressed in terms of local government reform.

It is my view that whether the voter turnout at last week’s election happens to be 17 percent or 34 percent (even though the latter might have been the norm in the relatively recent past), this is nevertheless quite unsatisfactory.

TT has been experiencing voter turnout of about 70 percent (still not high enough) and this is the dimension at which we should be aiming to be achieved at local government elections. However, the enabling nexus between the potential voter and the local government representative must be properly established.

ERROL OC CUPID Trincity, Tacarigua