Peter Espeut | Needed: job descriptions

“You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27).

We waited long and hard for the new Road Traffic Act passed by Parliament in 2018 to be implemented. Indiscipline on our roads is widespread, and fatal accidents break national records every year. The blood of Jamaicans spilled on our roadways cries out for justice.

Certainly, part of the problem is flaws in how our legislation is written. How is it possible for drivers to accumulate hundreds – 500, 600, 700 – unpaid traffic tickets and remain undetected for so long? And retain their taxi licences and drivers’ licences? Did not our legislators foresee that thousands of drivers would simply ignore (or tear up, or throw away) the traffic tickets they were given? Were our legislators so naïve?

Apparently so!

I am reminded of the old story of Canute, King of England, Denmark and Norway, who – besotted with his political supremacy – placed his throne at the water’s edge and commanded the rising tide to turn back. Of course, he got his feet wet. Wielding political power is not enough. Having the authority to pass laws is not enough. The laws you enact must be well crafted and watertight. And you must be able to enforce them.

The old Road Traffic Act under which road deaths broke records and unpaid traffic tickets accumulated unpunished, was holy holy. Were we unreasonable to expect the New Traffic Act to be solid?

The New Road Traffic Act passed in the House and the Senate five years ago. Did our legislators have enough time to review it and iron out the kinks? What is the quality of the New Road Traffic Act and Regulations?

These came into effect 10 days ago, and since then there have been widespread protests by public transport operators and the general public about a number of provisions therein. Under the new legislation, children under twelve must be restrained in a car seat; these would include first-formers (and some second-formers) in high schools.

Really?

OTHER ISSUES

Other issues have been raised, and the Government has already announced that both the Act and Regulations will be amended this week!

I will leave to others a detailed analysis of these new pieces of legislation; what I am concerned about here is the quality and performance of our legislators.

The prime minister has given an undertaking to provide job descriptions for elected officials so that we can assess their performance or lack thereof. None have yet been provided. At the last election 130-plus people put themselves forward as candidates for 63 jobs as members of parliament (MPs). What job descriptions would do is make clear what MPs are called upon to do, and give an idea of the qualifications necessary for the job.

Certainly, the primary role of an MP is to be a legislator. What qualifications must a legislator possess to qualify him or her for that role, and to ensure competence? Could the reason for not publishing job descriptions be that many (or most) of our present legislators would be found wanting?

If we are to judge the quality of our legislators by the quality of the new Road Traffic Act and Regulations, how would they score?

I think job descriptions are all the more necessary with parish council elections imminent; it is likely that in excess of 450 persons will offer themselves later this month for the 223 jobs as parish councillors; and before we are called upon to cast our votes, surely we should know what parish councillors are required to do, so that we can make a judgement about how suitable the candidates are?

Part of the problem is that the job descriptions of the MP and parish councillor are not sufficiently distinct. In Jamaica, these two political positions are somewhat muddled, and as a result neither is able to perform a solid role in Jamaica’s polity.

THREE BRANCHES

In our Westminster model, there are three branches of government – executive, legislature and judiciary – each with quite distinct functions. MPs are part of the legislature, which means that their primary function is to consider new statutes, regulations and the like, as well as the repeal and amendment of laws already on the books. In Jamaican practice, the Cabinet (the executive branch) has usurped this function; legislation to come before Parliament must first be approved by Cabinet.

If a legislator wishes to propose a law, he must first go to the relevant portfolio minister and persuade him to take it to Cabinet; failing that, he must introduce it in Parliament as a private member’s motion; but first he must get his draft bill written, and Cabinet ministers have priority access to the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel where Jamaican legislation is drafted.

With very little other than desk-thumping to do (since his legislative function has been usurped by Cabinet), the parliamentarian turns to his constituency and usurps the role of the parish councillor.

Local government is about roads and drains and street lighting and schools and garbage collection and water supplies and the bushing of verges, and the like – local matters which parish councillors must deal with; but in almost all cases, the MP or some central government agency handles them: the National Solid Waste Management Agency has all but removed responsibility for garbage collection from the parish councils; the MP nominates school board members, and deals with much of the rest from his Constituency Development Fund allocation. The parish councillor – supposedly with the responsibility for local government – has no such fund to draw on; he must hope that some central government minister chooses his parish council divisions to “let off” some money for some employment, or some infrastructure development. With this confused arrangement, I can see why many people believe that local government is a waste of time, and an unnecessary tier of government.

In this 60th year of our Independence, don’t you think we should get this right? Legislators must legislate, and local government must deal with local issues; otherwise we should do away with it. Right now, the parish councillors are little more than the henchmen of the MPs, and local government is the incubator for future MPs.

What are we going to teach the children in civics class about the difference in the job description of the councillor and the MP?

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and a rural development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com