Sheena Gayle, Freelance Writer

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (centre) is greeted by the students of the John Rollins Success Primary School in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday while Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government, Robert Montague, looks on during the Regional Local Government Consultation & Conference at the Rose Hall Resort & Country Club. - bphoto by Sheena Gayle

Western Bureau:

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has blamed the way Jamaica has practised politics over the years for its failure to use creative capacity to make meaningful changes in the society.

"We pursue a practice of politics that places far too much emphasis on the distributive element of political representation," Golding said while addressing more than 100 delegates at the Regional Local Government Consultation & Conference (RLGCC) in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday.

Negative perceptions

He admitted that the history of the country's politics instils negative perceptions, where politicians inculcate the notion that the business of politics is to go out and vote for them because of what they can give.

This, the prime minister argued, needs to be changed in order to facilitate change in local governance.

Evoke change

He made the recommendation that, while the challenges of resources and the quality of partnership between local government and the public are visible, "more focus is needed on building the people's capacity to evoke change, get things done in order to ensure that the objectives of the local government system are met".

These objectives, he pointed out, include development and ensuring orderly regulation of human activities and efficient delivery of services to our people.

The RLGCC sought to establish and make available a regional policy and a cooperation framework on local governance for member states of the Caribbean Forum of Local Government Ministers and CARICOM through a four-day training seminar held from May 26-29 for local government directorates.