THE 2004 Commonwealth Local Government Handbook was officially launched on Tuesday, April 19 by Portia Simpson Miller, the Minister of Local Government and Ponts'o Susan Sekatle, the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) Chairperson. The function took place at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James.
Described as 'the only comprehensive wide-ranging and extra-ordinary study of local government systems that exists, the third edition of the 212-page handbook gives comprehensive profiles of local government systems in some 26 Commonwealth countries as well as case studies on local government service partnerships.
Much of the research undertaken in the book has been funded by the United Kingdom Government and done in collaboration with the University of Birmingham.
In her address at the launch, Ponts'o Susan Sekatle said that CLGF was proud to be launching the handbook, which was expected to be a well-needed tool to all member countries of the Commonwealth.
"The handbook has established itself as a valuable tool for local government practitioners such as ministers, senior officials and mayors across the extent of local democracy and public sector decentralisation the major themes of the current symposium," the CLGF Vice Chairperson pointed out.
HANDBOOK COVERS JAMAICA
AND OTHER CARIB COUNTRIES
She said further that it was pleasing to see that the handbook covered Jamaica and other Caribbean countries and expressed the hope that the findings of the Regional Symposium would be reflected in the next annual edition which would itself coincide with the 2005 Commonwealth Local Government Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Mrs. Simpson Miller, in performing the official launch of the handbook, hailed it as a step in the right direction for local government reform and local governance.
"I wish to warmly commend the 2004 Commonwealth Local Government Handbook to all local government practitioners in the Caribbean and beyond," she noted.
