THE HISTORIC 14th general election for central government is now behind us. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet have been duly sworn in. And the country has a stronger Opposition than it has had in 30 years.
The old issue of the powers of the Prime Minister and of the dominance of the Executive over the Legislature surfaced again in the election campaign and its aftermath. The country is now looking to Local Government elections.
One of the major challenges facing the new Minister of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, the Hon Portia Simpson Miller, as she begins work in a new portfolio this week, is the speeding up and the completion of Local Government Reform. Despite a great deal of talk, this process has only dawdled along under the previous Ministers in administrations since 1989.
In an article carried by The Sunday Gleaner on October 20, Keith Miller, from considerable professional expertise as a public officer in Local Government, challenged the "myth of separation of powers" for curbing the excessive power of Prime Minister and Executive and instead proposed a model for the devolution of powers. Mr. Miller, now a consultant to the Ministry of Local Government, argued that devolution of power, with fiscal decentralisation, will create local centres of power and reduce the dominance of a centralised power structure. The thing is, no one is now quarrelling with this model. In fact, democracy demands devolution, or, more to the point, the avoidance of over-centralisation in the first place.
What has been signally lacking in the long drawn-out reform process is the will to make devolution a reality.
Mr. Miller is hoping to spark "a vigorous and healthy national
dialogue" about the separation of powers in central Government
perhaps, but there seems to be already wide consensus across party lines and in civil society for the reform and strengthening of Local Government. More than 60 laws have been under review for
sometime toward creating the legal framework for Local Government reform. Most of the municipal laws are over 100 years old and "lack teeth".
The absence of a secure financial base for the operation of the KSAC and the Parish Council is one of the major reform issues that must be resolved with some urgency. A successful Local Government Reform process should reduce a Ministry of Local Government in Central Government to a fairly minor oversight role. And this devolution of power may be the real obstacle to pushing the process. The question is, why is it not the Councils themselves, which are driving the reform process? The various agencies of civil society with interests in governance, democracy and the control of the power of the state should take on Local Government Reform with some vigour. New Minister, new political situation,
new opportunity.
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