Local government heads weigh-in on one-year term extension for councils

PORT OF SPAIN Mayor Joel Martinez is among those welcoming the extension of local government councillors' terms from three to four years to allow local government reform to kick in, but Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Dr Allen Sammy opposed it.

Newsday interviewed several municipal council leaders last week after the change was announced by Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi.

While Al-Rawi said the Prime Minister reserves the right to call local elections, originally due early next year, Sammy said, "I was surprised it was postponed for a year.

"It's clear to me it was done because their backs are against the wall. They (the PNM) are extremely unpopular.

"They are trying to buy back time to win back currency with the population, by putting state resources into areas where they are now severely challenged."

Sammy said meanwhile people are suffering.

"When you postpone an election and you are still not sure what are the rules for that postponement, except it is postponed for a year, and councils’ life is extended, and you have nothing in place to help the people and there is no additional allocation...We've got additional responsibilities imposed on us over time that the public is not aware of.

"There's nothing that tells you what you can do and cannot do. So there are no guidelines, no schedules, no checklist, no nothing. We're operating totally in the dark."

Sammy: Poor communication

Sammy accused the ministry of poor communication with his council.

"We had a meeting a few minutes ago and we'd asked our corporate secretary, 'What are the implications?' They have not been conveyed to us by the ministry.

"So we are totally opposed."

Asked about burgesses now unable to vote for possibly another year, he said, "People are being (ridden) over in a very roughshod manner. I don't feel there's any respect for people and communities."

He said his corporation has 33 communities, and they had expectations for their road repair, water supply and cleaning of public spaces such as markets, cemeteries and abattoirs.

Of the possible election delay, Sammy said, "What you are doing is perpetuating the same old model without offering any kind of hope to people."

On a proposal for councillors to shift from part-time to full-time roles, he felt the councils had been left out of the dialogue. This is even after all councillors and aldermen were invited by Al-Rawi to a meeting on August 9 at the Government Campus Plaza, Port of Spain, but UNC representatives were instructed by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to boycott the event. The meeting was to discuss the issue of local government reform and its rollout.

Al-Rawi had said, then, the boycott denied UNC local government representatives an opportunity to understand how they could use local government reform to serve their constituents better.

"Therefore the information on how we intend to operationalise local government reform was not able to be given directly to the local government practitioners who are representatives of the UNC."

Sammy was asked if councillors should be able to retain their private professional lives, such as being an attorney. He said on hearing the news about the plan for full-time councillors, some people had already told him they may not again offer themselves to serve.

Sammy lamented that without anyone sitting with the council to discuss matters such as definitions of full or part-time, all was now mere speculation.

He said TT must await the outcome of activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj's lawsuit against the move to extend the life of the councils.

PoS mayor approves

Martinez welcomed the extension.

"Yes, it was a three-year term, but we had only one year fully active, because of two years of covid19."

He said the extra year would let councillors interact more with burgesses.

Martinez denied the Government was seeking to delay the polls because it was unpopular.

"The Government is well positioned. In the past couple of years the Government has done tremendous work. During covid the Government protected the health and welfare of citizens."

He said this country had not suffered the same devastation and deaths as others.

"A lot of people take that for granted. The Government would have gotten a good grade as a result of that. People tend to forget."

Asked if the Government was hurt by topical issues such as crime, flooding and potholes, he said the country still faced economic fallout from the pandemic. He said the pandemic had impeded human capital, passenger air travel and cargo sea travel.

On councillors becoming full-time, he said they get a mere stipend now and should be paid better, as they look after the community and develop policy.

He said while designated part-time, many councillors already serve in a full-time job.

"They are always on the job."

Martinez said a councillor attends meetings of committees, constituents and communities.

"It's a lot of work." He felt councillors should be paid better, yet not be restricted in how they earn their income, when asked about restrictions on Tobago House of Assembly (THA) members.

"Members of the House of Representative or the Senate are not restricted, so why put a restriction on members of council?"

He also hoped for more autonomy for councils to better take care of the community.

Point Fortin, Arima mayors on board

Point Fortin Mayor Saleema Thomas told Newsday in a text, "Yes, I agree with the extension completely. Its about putting people first!"

"This is not the first time council’s terms have been extended. However, it is a unique opportunity afforded, to facilitate the roll out of local government reform."

Thomas advocated "a more intrinsic and effective delivery structure" for local governance.

"This is why the reform bill is so important.

"Through the new reform process, we anticipate the daily lives of burgesses would be positively impacted in a more enhanced way, as local governance will advance to a level that has never been experienced before in our country."

Arima Mayor Cagney Casimire told Newsday the Arima Borough Councill fully backed extending councillors’ terms.

"We all agreed that the extension will give us time to transition into local government."

He was confident that in any local government election, the ongoing performance of PNM-run corporations would speak for itself.

Asked if the local polls would be delayed owing to the Government being unpopular because of crime, flooding, water supply, and high food prices, he replied that many of those were perennial issues, of no worse significance now.

"In Arima we have no fear of a local government election."

Casimire said local government entailed using priority funding and unspent balances to support the local community, such as by buying additional water delivery trucks.

He advocated corporations working with the Ministries of Local Government and Public Utilities to get water to burgesses.

Casimire said his corporation, when reformed, will have five-eight secretaries, out of 14 current councillors.

"You can identify who can be salaried and who will not be full time. It will have some wriggle room."