REID

Pending legislation to remove responsibility for Poor Relief from the country's parish councils and other local authorities is not finding favour with some interest groups within these bodies.

Ian Reid, chairman of the Local Government Managers Association, registered his group's strong dissent to this proposal during yesterday's meeting of the parliamentary committee on local government reform.

"The answer to dissatisfaction with the past performance of local government cannot be to dismantle or downgrade the institution, but to identify the causes of such performance and devise appropriate solutions to such problems," he argued.

Replacing functions

This was a direct response to the draft bill seeking to repeal the Poor Relief Act and replace the functions of the Poor Relief departments with the National Assistance Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

It is proposed that the new legislative scheme will provide as well for income support and "other social assistance benefits to members of society with inadequate or no earning capacity". It will cover contingencies affecting children, the aged and indigent, as well as those with various forms of disability.

Mr. Reid, who is the secretary/ manager of the St. James Parish Council, told the committee, however, that providing these services through a central government agency would run counter to the stated objective of the local governmentreform process - that of making it more efficient and capable of delivering services earmarked for this area of national life.

Furthermore, he said, the Government of Jamaica has committed itself, by international treaties, to strengthen local government institutions.

Doing as contemplated in the bill would run counter to such commitments, he argued.