Local governance reform standstill
Former officials lament perceived inaction, but McKenzie insists there has been progress
Published:Sunday | February 18, 2024 | 12:13 AMErica Virtue - Senior Gleaner Writer
Morant Bay Mayor Hubert Williams is charging that the long-discussed reform of the local governance structure has come to a standstill under the current Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration.
According to the former People’s National Party (PNP) councillor in the White Horses division in St Thomas, who is now campaigning for re-election, the lack of action on the much-talked-about reform of the 2016 Local Government Act has resulted in central government continuing to dictate how municipal corporations operate.
Even the promised three-year reviews of the act, starting in 2019 with the second for 2022, were never done, he added.
Williams’ statement, made at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum, has set off a firestorm between the current and former local government ministers as well as former representatives in the municipal corporations. But the path forward is still unclear.
“In 2016, we had the Local Governance Act, which was a groundbreaking document to lead us forward. That document was created to give all municipal corporations in Jamaica the autonomy to move ahead, work with private partnerships, in a way that any modern democratic society would move in terms of local government,” Williams shared with Gleaner journalists two weeks ago.
“Then we had an election a little bit after that and the Jamaica Labour Party took control. The Honourable Desmond McKenzie became [local government] minister. From that day, local government reform has died. Period. What that has done is bring the council back to the old days, where all you do is pretty much clean drains, just do some basic functions, because that’s the direction he took local government.”
He continued: “There has been no review since McKenzie became minister. That is the problem. The review was so that we could strive for the document to become a better one, and better tailored to meet the needs of the people. The only way for it to be better is for us to have those reviews.
“It (the act) gives the minister so much power and I think he does not want to lose it. Because if local government is decentralised, as it should be, he would lose a whole lot of power. And at the moment, he loves the power, so he will not do anything to lose an ounce of that power, and that’s just what it is.”
Supporting Williams, Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas (PNP) said they have constantly been asking McKenzie about the reform programme, but to no avail.
“At one stage, we heard we were going to have a retreat to look at other elements of the reform. But we are not getting anywhere because it lies with the minister of local government,” he responded, when asked how the Opposition advocated for the reform.
Dr Carol Archer, urban renewal specialist and professor at The University of Technology, Jamaica, who was a member of the local government reform committee before the 2016 act was passed, said much of what was proposed has not been implemented.
“I was part of the national committee on local government reforms. Then it was chaired by Professor Rex Nettleford. After his passing (in 2010), Professor Edwin Jones led the team,” she explained.
“There were proposals to entrench local government and decentralise it, particularly in regard to participation, and strengthen that at that level. But the passage of the 2016 act, in my view as a member of that committee, did not go far enough to give greater autonomy to local authorities.”
Archer continued, “Another consideration was for citizens to have a more direct role in the management and decision-making process of local government. Community-based organisations such as the parish development committees (PDCs), the Social Development Commission (SDC) and other organisations were tapped for greater say in the running of their councils. But the decentralisation process did not take place.”
Municipal corporations get two-thirds of their funding from motor vehicle licences as well as property taxes that are paid to the Consolidated Fund and Tax Administration Jamaica.
ONGOING PROCESS
In a stinging clap back at his detractors, Williams specifically, McKenzie rubbished the arguments.
“That is one person (Williams) for whom I have little or no regard because his integrity, his honesty is questionable,” said McKenzie, a former councillor and mayor of Kingston.
“These are the same set of people who have spoken glowingly about the administration of local government and the things that we have done to advance the reform process.”
He continued, “Never before have councillors benefited from [financial] assistance to run an office and have administrative assistance. Councillors have never before benefited from grants for back to school, funerals, housing! That was not something that was started by them. It was started by the Andrew Holness government in 2016.”
McKenzie told The Sunday Gleaner that much of what was contained in the reform under the PNP government placed a “stranglehold” on local government, “despite my objection when I was in Opposition”.
“Look, local government reform is an ongoing process. The JLP government has brought transparency and more accountability, strengthening the financial framework of local government. We don’t give lip service to local government,” the minister said.
FAR-REACHING PLANS
But former local government minister under the PNP administration, Noel Arscott, disagrees with his predecessor’s claim of a stranglehold, noting that there was a push for transparency, accountability and greater participation.
“The plans for the reform of local government were far-reaching and the decentralisation should have fully empowered the councils. Civil society, as well as the PDC, CDC and SDC, were very much a part of the decentralisation process. Councillors were ex-officio members of those bodies. Everything would be in the open. Just like how you have Parliament and public accounts committee, they were to have them, too,” Arscott recalled to The Sunday Gleaner.
“There were to be debates at the parish council on the budgets. It was not just the elected representatives, but it was the mobilisation of civil society for greater participation. We drafted the rules, but we had to make some compromises, because many of the MPs and ministers did not trust the councils to be handling so much money. The reference in the new rules gives the impression that the minister gets a lot of power. But the purpose of it was to satisfy the doubt that central government had in the ability of the councils to manage their budgets.”
The powers given to the minister, he said, was to appease other Cabinet ministers because of the discomforts they held with the councils’ ability to manage their budgets.
“McKenzie has done nothing to decentralise the powers,” Arscott said.
Outlining more reform efforts, he said the process provided proper managers, moving away from secretary managers to competent chief executives.
“The process looked at grouping some parishes together so that some skills could be shared. So if there was a competent and qualified architect and/or engineers in specific areas, those technical competencies would be shared between clusters of parishes. This would make the monitoring and control better. Those considerations were the first steps in the process,” he stated.
The plans would advance those put forward by another former local government minister, Arnold Bertram. He had proposed regionalisation of councils, and instead of individual parish mayors, only one would be selected per region. But he received heavy pushback from his own PNP government and councillors.
According to Arscott, during Portia Simpson Miller’s tenure as minister of local government in 2002, she pushed for reforms in Portmore, including the direct electing of a mayor. After consultations with the citizens, they were on board with the proposals. In 2003, George Lee became Portmore’s first directly elected mayor.
Mandeville, Arscott said, was the next town contemplated for the direct election of a mayor.
“The things he (McKenzie) said has been done are not reform. They are entrenching dependency,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
Archer said that for the upcoming local government elections, citizens should vote based on their assessment of the work of their local representatives and the provisions of basic services.
“I am hoping that the general public will be seized with the importance of local government and I think they are, as the adage is that politics is local. I am hoping that they are seized with the opportunity that it is the local government institutions that are at the forefront of the provision of basic services, and ought to be. Citizens ought to assess the provisions of those services and make their decisions accordingly,” she stated.