Sir Ellis draft for House

“Many of you would recall that when the draft white paper was laid in the House of Representatives on May 26, 2006, I stated then that Sir Ellis Clarke would be producing a draft Constitution for public discussion.”

Sir Ellis had drafted the 1962 Independence Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, which was amended in 1976 by the Wooding Commission to bring this country to Republic status.

Manning added that Sir Ellis recently presented him with the new draft Constitution, which would be laid in Parliament this week and would soon be available for public discussion.

Manning said the draft Constitution will include local government reform. These ideas for reform, he said, had moved from the 2002 PNM general election manifesto, to a 2004 governmental draft policy paper, to a 2004 green paper later amended by public consultation and an interministerial task force, to the current draft white paper.

The reform proposes that the Government creates policy which is then executed for the State by a beefed up Local Government, in areas such as education and social services, but excluding areas like national defence, foreign policy, energy, and public utilities like WASA and TTEC.

He said the Government wants functions to be decentralised to local councils capable of discharging their responsibilities to citizens.

“The decentralisation of functions and responsibilities to local government bodies, rather than the devolution of power, is therefore being advocated as the core of our model of local government reform.”

Manning hinted at a role for the private sector to deliver services for the local councils. He also saw local government reform as a way to boost democracy.

“Through local government reform, the Government also intends to improve the representation of the people’s interest in this country. Another salient proposal therefore seeks an enlargened Senate of Trinidad and Tobago to include all mayors and chairmen of municipal corporations.”

Although local government representatives would not have a vote in the Senate, they would have the chance to speak out on matters affecting their region.

Manning said local government reform has been inspired by the Tobago House of Assembly.

He said at present the Government divides the country into administrative districts whose boundaries do not correspond to those used by local government, the latter of which he wants to see changed.

“If both sets of boundaries are coterminous with each other, an opportunity is presented for the local government bodies to discharge a coordinating function in respect of the administration of certain Central Government responsibilities such as education and the delivery of social services to name but two.”

He said the new boundaries must reflect new areas of human settlement and industrial and commercial activity.

Manning proposed the local councils become self-financing.

“The expectation is that through the collection of appropriate rates and taxes, all local government bodies should be able to finance a greater part of their annual budget than currently obtains.”

The consultation continues today.