Ideas for Minister 'Butch' Arscott and mayors
Published:Thursday | March 6, 2014 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Local government is closer to citizens than central government, despite the latter's dominance from a political perspective. Minister of Local Government 'Butch' Arscott and mayors must do more to underscore and capitalise on this fact.
They must lobby for acceleration of zoning of schools. Regional offices of the Ministry of Education must make way for municipal schools commissions which will employ their own municipal school inspectors and boards of inspectors for groups of small schools instead of each having their own board.
Regional health authorities must give way to the Municipal Health Service establishments which will staff and run clinics, hospitals, and infirmaries, and ensure the provision and maintenance of adequate ambulance services and medical supplies.
Magistrate's courts must give way to Municipal Justice Centres (MJC) with branches in every parish council division. The MJC will house courtrooms presided over by judges (there has been talk of upgrading the status of magistrates) and justices of the peace, arbitration and mediation rooms, as well as justice education, victim support, and restorative justice personnel.
The merger of the Jamaica Constabulary and Island Special Constabulary forces should go a big step further with the merged entity becoming the National Police Service, incorporating some of the existing special units that tackle homicides, organised crime, financial crimes, human and narco trafficking, as well as the national intelligence gathering, staffed by national crime detectives. INDECOM, with its wide-ranging powers, would also remain in existence. However, the former special constables, district constables, municipal wardens and anti-harassment corps of resort parishes should form the core of new municipal police service organisations headed by commanders supported by captains, lieutenants and local detectives and servicemen and women.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should provide district prosecutors and assistants for municipalities, while state prosecutors (replacing crown prosecutors as allegiance to the Queen of England is dispensed with) will be assigned to superior courts. The superior courts, up to appeal, should have regional (county) branches.
Every municipality should have a chief of emergency services responsible for fire stations and paramedical formations as well as emergency shelters, risk assessment, mitigation, recovery and distribution of relief supplies. This municipality should acquire and maintain its own emergency vehicles, including water trucks.
generate revenue
The answer to the question of funding is simple. There must be Municipal Revenue Departments headed by a Municipal Revenue Board (councillors and co-opted experts) with a revenue controller assisted by a municipal treasurer and commercial manager. Revenue will be generated by municipal fees and taxes (property tax allocation), allocations from the Constituency Development Fund, funding from the Ministry of Local Government, the budget of which will be increased commensurate with the shift in the burden of administration of certain services from other ministries, from the National Health Fund, based on size of the population served by the municipality, and lastly from prudent investment of surplus revenues.
The only thing that should negate expedited adoption of my proposals is an inflated political ego or personal ambition that seeks after self-gratification over national progress.
H.W.
Mona
Kingston 7