ROWLEY’S 7-YEAR LG HOAX

IN 2015, the People’s National Movement (PNM) promised to reform the local government sector and “remove all of the red tape and bureaucracy.”

In its general election manifesto that year, the PNM said it would get rid of all stumbling blocks that ‘prevent bodies from doing their work in an effective and efficient manner.”

Last week, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley said the country should vote for the PNM in order to receive local government reform.

“The singular issue of whether local government reform should be proceeded with is before you,” Rowley told a PNM meeting at Arima.

“It is about local government reform.”

He touted the same proposals of the PNM’s 2015 election manifesto.

In the seven and a half years since the initial promise, there has been no reform to the local government sector.

In 2015, the PNM said that “there are several tasks and functions now managed by the central government that can be more effectively handled by local government bodies.”

In particular, the party referenced social service and community development functions.

The PNM spoke of new measures for administering the system and raising funds.

Relevant revenue and taxation laws would be amended, the party vowed.

The Municipal Corporation Act would be amended, the PNM said, “to give local government corporations a level of autonomy and executive authority similar to that is now enjoyed by the Tobago House of Assembly.”

Generally, there would be decentralisation of the sector, with authority by corporations to award contracts, consult stakeholders, be a first responder to disasters, and other measures.

Rowley last week made similar promises with respect to funding and delivery of goods and services.

“These could only be done through local government reform,” he said.

He stated: “Once you have a revenue stream, you could do wonders.”

In recent years, opposition-held local government corporations have complained about the lack of proper funding to undertake such functions as improving infrastructure and delivering truck-borne water.

The PNM in 2015 had promised to “completely restructure and decentralise the sector.”

In what amounts to a hoax, these reforms remain unfilled and Rowley is now insisting that local government election victory is needed.

The upcoming LG polls, he said, would allow the government to “improve people’s lives.”

In the 1990s, then-Prime Minister Patrick Manning postponed LG polls three times, with promises of reform of the sector.