Local government gone to the dogs?

THE EDITOR: I could see the former mayor of Port of Spain derisively commenting, “You want to put astroturf in Mandela Park but you cannot even clean the public toilets, fix the sports pavilions and patch the roads. What foolishness.” PM Rowley beat him to it.

I have been left to wonder whether we need local government corporations since, despite the important and necessary work they must do, it appears they are unable to carry out their legally constituted responsibilities because they all claim they are being starved for money.

The admission by the mayor of Port of Spain that his PNM-controlled corporation is starved for funding and that most of the money received goes into wages and salaries is consistent with the cries of the UNC corporations with respect to funding.

Let us face it, the corporations are at a virtual standstill and people with skills are being paid to, as it were, do precious little. Development projects and important regular maintenance are not being executed with the volume necessary to satisfy burgesses, as well as to improve the quality of life and create beautiful and responsive communities.

In the cash-starved environment the mayors and chairmen are impotent and end up as crybabies with many even using the cash shortage to mask their own incompetence and inefficiency. There are dozens of pieces of equipment lying idle in corporations either because there is no cash for fuel or for parts to repair them. It’s a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.

No doubt less than 50 per cent of people participate in local government elections and perhaps more importantly less in committees and groups to impact upon the local government area where they live.

I am disappointed in the current Minister of Local Government, whose only call to fame appears to be his determination to be seen as a good guy rather than as a competent, productive, community-empowering minister. Lest it be said that I too was a minister of local government, let me also say that my track record as minister is there for examination.

Money is not all that makes local government effective. It is representation to the Cabinet and organisation of the communities that are also important. As a former mayor in opposition I worked with the then PNM government to have constructed the only true town hall in Trinidad, with a full auditorium etc. After that none has been constructed. Using a more creative financing methodology, the Arima, Penal/Debe and Diego Martin town halls could have been constructed.

The creation of market malls with a percentage ownership by the vendors would have transformed the experience of being at the market and promote entrepreneurship through shared economic participation and partnership. A preliminary design for such a project in 30 acres of land is at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation. All of this can be done with a public-private sector partnership. You cannot build communities by ignoring people ownership.

I make these points because of the feeling I am getting that local government has gone to sleep, maybe gone to the dogs.

The Government must at this time make up its mind as to whether it wants local government or not. You cannot keep underfunding corporations. This is waste of tax dollars and it also frustrates the councillors and the public.

The mayor of Port of Spain indicated that revenue he needs has to come from property taxes. Even if that were so the mayor and other corporations must also be more strategic and efficient. You cannot give people work for two and three hours a day and hope to have a productive local government. You cannot have equipment reach work sites at 10 am and return at 1 pm and be happy with that. These are issues that are corporation management-centred and if not addressed among others will also strangle local government.

The talk of reform and more power and authority to local government will always be farcical if structural changes and attitudinal and cultural shifts are not also simultaneously effected.

SURUJRATTAN RAMBACHAN
former minister and MP