Local government is meaningless

THE EDITOR: The disastrous flooding in south Trinidad, the poor condition of the Manzanilla/Mayaro temporary road and the poor state of repairs to our bridges and minor roads all cry out for local government reform.

Local government must be restructured to allow for communities to maintain themselves and raise funds for carrying out routine maintenance and upgrade. The structures that are necessary for such upgrades are available if one were to emulate best practices in the commonwealth and the United States of America.

One can conclude that the PNM and the Prime Minister have made local government reform the pillar of their campaign for this election.

It may be fair to also conclude that if that is so, their claim of seeking local government reform is very hypocritical.

What they are not saying is that local government is not a child of the Constitution, it is a child of legislation needing only a simple majority in Parliament to make whatever changes the government so desires.

So, if this administration wanted to make the changes they seem to be campaigning on, they can simply go ahead and do that.

Then there are the parties on the other side who are campaigning on assumptions, for example saying that the government’s intention is to impose a 25 per cent inheritance tax without any proof whatsoever.

One would think we have matured to the stage where campaigns will be fought on plans to improve local government management and issues that are pertinent to the voters.

Instead, there are similar subliminal racial messages, and a number of “he say, she say,” claims that does nothing to inspire the electorate to participate in municipal elections.

The reality is local government, in its present form, is meaningless.

Recently, a past mayor was on radio saying how grateful he was to the then minister of local government for releasing the corporation’s money for use by the corporation.

How pathetic it is that the corporation had to go to Central Government to get permission to spend corporation funds. Local Government in its present form is almost totally dependent on Central Government for its existence.

If local Government is to make any sense and truly have the impact that is necessary for communities to develop, it must be restructured. That restructuring is the job of central Government.

Thus, this local government election is just another opportunity for bacchanalists to play themselves and for political parties to be seen as relevant.

Another chance for unsubstantiated statements to be made and at the end, for parties to all claim victory of some kind. Meanwhile the communities will continue to suffer.

STEVE ALVAREZ

Couva