Arnold Bertram
On December 5, Jamaicans will be going to the polls to elect 227 councillors for 14 local authorities. While the campaign provides the opportunity for a meaningful debate on the future of local authorities as an integral part of Jamaica's system of governance, it is not clear whether the leadership of both political parties is ready for such a debate.
It is certainly a matter of concern for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that the elections will take place in the aftermath of the most sustained devastation of the country's physical infrastructure, and in the context of dramatic increases in the cost of oil, which continues to fuel significant increases in the cost of living. They can only hope that the electorate will reward statesmanship and punish political opportunism.
The People's National Party (PNP) can hardly do worse than it did in the last local government election, when, for the first time, it was beaten while still in control of central government. Unfortunately, the PNP is yet to achieve the internal cohesion and demonstrate the sense of national purpose to make it the effective Opposition which Jamaica needs. It is not enough for the party which built the national movement to rely on the misery of the electorate for political capital, particularly in the context where this misery has been caused by factors beyond Jamaica's control.
Antipathy to Local Gov't
His Worship George Lee (right), Mayor of Portmore, takes the general salute before the inspection at the Portmore Municipal Council's Independence Day flag-raising and civic ceremony on August 6, at the Municipal Office in Portmore Pines, St. Catherine. It is argued that the municipality should be separated from the parish of St. Catherine. - Norman Grindley /Deputy Chief Photographer
In the 60 years since the local government election of 1947, consensus is yet to emerge between the major political parties as to the role and function of local authorities. Bustamante's antipathy to local government was reflected in the decisions of his administrations to dissolve the St. Catherine Parish Council in 1949, the Trelawny Parish Council in 1954, the Portland Parish Council in 1963, and the KSAC in 1964.
Prime Minister Edward Seaga's reservations about the relevance of local authorities in the 1980s led to the motion brought to Parliament by his Minister of Local Government, Neville Lewis, to reduce the powers and authority of local government and to apportion its major functions to centrally directed agencies and institutions.
The response of the PNP came a decade later, when Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, in October 1994, established the Local Government Reform Unit to restore the functions and responsibilities which properly belonged to local government. The reform unit was also mandated to upgrade the institutional capacity of local authorities, undertake a comprehensive revision of the legal framework, improve the quality and cost efficiency of its services and regulatory functions, and to provide autonomous sources of funding for local authorities.
While the differences between the major political parties on the role of local government has been consistently reflected at the level of parliamentary debate and legislation, neither party in power has provided local authorities with either adequate or autonomous sources of funding for the delivery of top-quality services, nor the capacity to efficiently carry out their regulatory functions.
What has been achieved?
The verdict of the public was clear in the last local government election, when the electorate voted decisively against the PNP in the year that the party celebrated the 10th anniversary of local government reform. The ordinary citizen had not seen enough improvement in the way that the local authorities maintained and rehabilitated the 138 cemeteries and parks, 357 kilometres of drains and gullies, 95 markets and abattoirs, 964 minor water supplies, parking facilities and the 13,811 kilometres of parochial roads, for which they were responsible. Many felt more should have been done to improve the services offered by the Ministry of Local Government in the collection and disposal of solid waste and fire safety.
The extent to which local authorities remain underfunded was made abundantly clear by former Minister of Local Government, Portia Simpson Miller, who, on the floor of Parliament, separated herself from the government ministry she was leading at the time, to demand adequate funding for fire services.
The lack of capacity within local authorities to perform critical developmental functions is equally prejudicial to local development. Based on reports submitted by municipal councils in 2000, there was an estimated $3.5 billion worth of investment projects for local development awaiting approval for applications submitted.
Local authorities are clearly powerless to carry out their regulatory functions, as itinerant vending has taken over streets, houses and parks, and has created over time, substantial zones of urban blight and informal squatter settlements.
A major obstacle to the creation of effective local authorities with the capacity to finance the delivery of local services is the competition from the 60 Members of Parliament (MPs) for the limited finances available. While the funds allocated to local authorities have steadily declined as a percentage of public expenditure since 1974, the allocations to MPs under headings such as the Social and Economic Support Programme have grown exponentially.
Prime Minister Golding's proposal to increase even more substantially the allocation to MPs for local services places him on the wrong side of reform.
The challenge of urbanisation
A fundamental weakness of the local government reform process so far has been its failure to respond adequately to the rapid growth of the unplanned urban centres since Independence and which demand such services as fire protection, solid-waste management and street lighting without the means of paying for them. Jamaica's urban population, which increased from 761,267 in 1970 to 1,175,943 in 1991, is projected to increase to 2.6 million by the year 2020. The displaced labour force from a declining agricultural sector is now to be found in these squatter communities which exist in proximity to the dominant centres of tourism and commerce with major implications for crime and anti-social behaviour.
Almost five years ago, Portmore was established as a municipality, based on the recognition that an urban centre with a population larger than Barbados and occupying a much smaller physical space required its own governance mechanism. How has it worked, and what have we learned? Is it viable to have Portmore appended to the St. Catherine Parish Council any longer, or should we establish these municipalities autonomously? When will similar municipalities be established in Spanish Town, Montego Bay, Mandeville, May Pen and Savanna-la-Mar?
Looking Ahead
The critical question on the eve of the election is the extent of Prime Minister Golding's commitment to the establishment of effective local authorities as the engine of local development. His decision to locate local authorities within the ministry responsible for development shows real insight.
Much is already in place for the establishment of far more effective local authorities to replace the 14 parish councils that we now have. These new local authorities would take the form of autonomous municipalities in the major urban areas to facilitate the planned expansion of industry and services, and autonomous rural-development areas for the modernisation of agriculture.
The planned development of these urban municipalities and rural-development areas would require a dynamic relationship between the local authorities, the Urban Development Corporation and the Rural Agriculture Development Authority. Success would also require the redirection of all allocations now being made to Members of Parliament for local services to the local authorities, together with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund's programme of community infrastructure development for planning and oversight.
Finally, the Social Development Commission, with its decentralised network, should become an integral part of the local authorities and should be charged with mobilising communities islandwide to take responsibility for the care of socially owned property and to monitor the delivery of community services.
Representatives of civil society should be entitled to membership in local authorities and to enjoy all the rights of elected members. A remarkable cadre of volunteers has emerged from the Parish Development Committees established over five years ago, and it is from their ranks that these representatives should be selected.
Regional framework
Four natural economic regions have emerged in Jamaica. These are the Kingston Metropolitan region, the western region, comprising the parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James and Trelawny, the central region, consisting of the parishes of Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, Manchester and a part of St. Catherine, and the eastern region, which includes the parishes of St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary and St. Ann.
Each of these regions has not only a viable economic base in tourism, mining or services, but a population larger than most Caribbean states, as well as key infrastructure and institutions such as airports, seaports and universities. Regionalism would clearly open up a new paradigm for the reconfiguration of local authorities and national development. The ministries of education and health have shown the way by organising their service delivery in a regional framework. Will local government follow?
Arnold Bertram, a historian and former minister of government is currently Chairman and CEO of Research and Project Development Ltd. Email: redev.atb@gmail.com.
