Who trusts a parish council?

Milton Brown, Guest Columnist

MANY PERSONS are not surprised that The Gleaner would find, within head of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, Dr Gladstone Hutchinson's proposal to the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, another opportunity to broadside the parish councils, even while acknowledging the validity of the proposal itself.

Parish councils or local authorities are government at the local level. Many within the halls of power are of the view, sometimes publicly expressed, that Jamaica should never have received political independence when we did as we were and still are not capable of governing ourselves.

They also propagate the view that leadership and the right to govern is ordained, or ought to come from the 'Leader Class'. Oftentimes, this is reflected in the disconnection between the leaders within communities and some of our national leaders as some of them believe that leadership is ordained. This, too, explains why candidates, seeking to be elected to Parliament, move from constituency to constituency with the objective being to satisfy this 'God-given' right. The local person of competence and experience is oftentimes overlooked because he or she is not of the ruling class and does not have the money to finance a campaign. Regrettably, this continues to happen.

Where the world is going

I wish to remind readers that most progressive countries with good governments are adopting systems of governance that enable much contribution from its people at the local level. Levels of authority and responsibility accorded to local representatives have been significantly increasing. The leading countries in the Commonwealth have strong local government. This can be gleaned from the conference of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum held every two years.

The next conference will be in Cardiff in March 2011, and I recommend that the media, particularly the print media, afford themselves the opportunity to find out what is happening in local government in the Commonwealth. They might even choose to attend the Local and Regional World Summit to be held in Mexico City in November. This summit is being organised against the background that world decision making cannot be limited to a single level of government. Decisions made at local and subnational levels are of equal importance, and it has been demonstrated that city and local-government leaders are leading in taking the necessary actions and in inspiring citizens to act in matters relating to national issues.

A point of note is that in Scotland, approximately 75 per cent of its budget is spent through the local authorities. In that country they are responsible, among other areas, for:

• Public housing, homelessness, and housing improvement;
  
• Arts, culture, and leisure;
  
• Local police and policing;
  
• Community health and safety;
  
• Building control;
  
• Development approval;
  
• Secondary, primary, and early childhood education;
  
• Firefighting.

Further checks will reveal very similar situations in New Zealand and Australia. Europe, and even Uganda, have very progressive local-government structures.

First effective response point

The average resident recognises his or her parish council and councillors as the port of first call for service, and is confident that service even beyond the call of duty will be received.

Clients in the infirmaries are fed each month not by the subvention from central government, but through the ingenuity of the administration in the parish councils.

When the roads in communities are in disrepair, the people complain to their councillors and councils.

Most councillors have very close relationships with their constituents, and their contribution to cordial existence in many communities is immeasurably positive.

In times of disaster, the majority of people reference their council and councillors.

Recent public forums held by the parish councils had overwhelming support from business and ordinary citizens. They came out in their numbers to indicate to the local leaders how they wanted their parishes to develop.

We can say, without doubt, that local government is where real governance takes place, where the people's needs are readily addressed. We invite some of our objective journalists to investigate and report on the activities of an average councillor and council. We admit that there are areas in which we need to improve, and we have failed to communicate our doings to the wider society. These we vow to change.

Local-government capacity

It is evident that recent changes in the parish councils have not been noted, including by some who write for newspapers. They are still of the view that councillors are the drivers or yard boys of members of parliament (MPs) and elected to office on the MP's party ticket. That might have been so in the past; we insist that it is no longer so.

Most councillors have a tertiary education, and there are some with first and second degrees in relevant disciplines. The mayors are, for the most part, graduates, with expertise in useful professions. Where this is not so, you must admit that the individuals are experienced persons with clear thought patterns recognised by their peers and the populace at large.

A recent government deliberately set out to improve the capacity of the staff in the parish councils. Most secretary/managers (town clerks) are holders of master's degrees in relevant disciplines. They are all qualified employees who can stand the test of competence. There are finance directors with master's degrees and others with first degrees. All 14 of our directors of planning have at least a first degree. All our physical planners are graduates in their field of planning, and all our superintendents of roads and works/city engineers are college graduates. Most of our field officers are graduates of the University of Technology at the diploma or degree level.

The truth is that the councils are underfunded. We have had little in capital budget, yet we are oftentimes criticised for not effecting jobs that require capital funding.

We recognise that there are many things we need to do differently to meet the people's expectations, and to be more efficient and effective. We are listening and hearing them and making the changes needed. All we ask is for a fair review.

Milton Brown is mayor of May Pen and president of the Association of Local Government Authorities of Jamaica.