- File photos
Errol Green, Town Clerk, left, and Michael Ammar, Jamaica Chamber of Commerce President last week engaged in war of words over the relevance of the KSAC.
Carol Archer, Contributor
IN LIGHT of the upcoming Local Government elections, the sentiments expressed in the Friday, November 1, editorial in The Weekend Observer were rather unfortunate. The editor called for The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to pass a resolution disbanding itself. Based on the response from the wider public, there are popularly held beliefs that there is a high level of inefficiency in the KSAC. However, I believe that with effective Local Government reform, this local authority can and will serve its purpose.
As an urban planner and public policy analyst, I have seen enough evidence to support the need to implement Local Government reform in Jamaica with much urgency so that the parish councils and the KSAC can serve the needs of the public at the local level. The most recent cases of Local Government reform in New Zealand and in Ghana, West Africa, demonstrate that Local Government reform can bring about positive results. In an upcoming article, I will provide a detailed analysis of Local Government reform in these countries.
It is not that the KSAC or other ineffective parish councils (in the opinions of the editor), should be dealt a quick and painless death blow, but as Ross Jansen (1990), president of the New Zealand Local Government pointed out, "Local Government can and is willing to meet these challenges, it is up to the central government to provide the trust, co-operation, and an appropriate sharing of resources, which are essential to the success of the local authority".
Even in a small state such as Jamaica, the national Government cannot take full responsibility for providing basic local services. There is a need for a local authority be it in the form of the KSAC, parish council, or community council, to have the necessary resources to address the needs of the residents at the local level.
My experience with West Rural St. Andrew informs me that for communities in Brandon Hill, Lawrence Tavern, Red Hills, Chancery Hall and Stony Hill, residents are more concerned with provision of local services, particularly parochial roads. Therefore, while we are happy that major roads managed by the national Government through the National Works Agency are going to be repaired, attention must be paid to the local or feeder roads such as Property Road in Salisbury Plains, Carr Hill Road in Rock Hall, and Brookslevel Road in Stony Hill. In essence, "politics and service provision must become local".
Based on my experience in West Rural St. Andrew, I will be the first to admit that limited resources were allocated from the KSAC for the five divisions to carry out service delivery effectively. In addition, there was limited citizen participation in the process of allocating funding and work implementation. Nonetheless, I would not argue for the immediate demise of the KSAC. I would, however, support the position of creating and strengthening communities so that they can effectively articulate their needs through their local representatives, work with these representatives to acquire the necessary resources and ensure the equitable distribution of these resources.
In some communities, particularly the more affluent communities, this is currently being done. The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and Social Development Commission (SDC), have been working with the less affluent communities so that they too can be strengthened to meet their needs at the local level. The initiatives of JSIF and SDC should be commended and every effort should be made to encourage and support these organisations to continue their work.
I will also strongly suggest the need to equip the parish councils with technical, administrative, and legislative staff, capable of carrying out the work of the councils with high levels of professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness.
If we are unable to find such trained individuals, the Urban and Regional Planning and other programmes at the University of Technology (UTech), the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), and the University of the West Indies (UWI), should be called upon to provide the necessary training as a matter of national priority. In the event that the decision- makers think that "foreign training" is better, there are a number of institutions including the International City and County Management Association (ICMA), that provides training for Local Government managers. The ICMA has been providing training since 1914. The required training should focus on developing a culture of professionalism in city management and governance for all local authority staff. As recognised by Daniel Fitzpatrick in his 1990 article entitled "City Management: Profession or Guild", the training for all those involved in the delivery of local services at the city or town level, should include a client/community centred approach, a professional identity among those in the field of city management, a professional culture, a code of ethics and a formal measure of professional competence. I would go even further to suggest that this training must be accredited or certified. Organisations such as the Jamaican Institute of Planners, or allied professional organisations, should be in a position to ensure compliance with these codes and enact the necessary professional censure if these codes have been breached. In the final analysis, the training must equip the city manager with leadership abilities so that he makes decisions, utilises resources and provides services effectively and at cost.
Let us face reality: the challenges of providing service at the local level in Jamaica cannot fall squarely on the locally elected officials the councillors, who, technically are serving on a part-time basis. The city or town managers or the full-time technical and administrative staff at the local authority, must have the ability to liaise with the communities, respond to the political directorate and ensure the provision of these services in an equitable, effective and efficient manner. Furthermore, the technical and administrative staff must work in concert with the councillors the legislative arm of the local authority to help the local authority to implement policies that will yield the optimum benefit to all communities and to do so in a responsible and ethical manner.
Dr. Carol Archer, an Urban Planner and Public Policy Analyst, is the Director of the Urban and Regional Programme at the University of Technology.
