EVEN BEFORE the call for Local Government Reform became a prolonged refrain, the Parish Councils and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) have been cleaning drains.
So why should the Prime Minister of the country have to call for the development of a national drain cleaning plan? We have not been advised that municipal administration across this island is now to be centrally directed.
With the rainy season bringing flood rains that apparently have banished the drought there is also anticipation of more to come with the hurricane season only a few weeks away. And it is well established that much of the flood damage we have suffered in the urban centres in particular arise from the clogging of drains.
This defect has been a municipal responsibility for several decades. The clogging is from garbage deposited carelessly by people without civic pride, not taking the trouble to use public receptacles if and where these are located by the local authorities.
The cleaning of drains remains the responsibility of the Parish Councils and the KSAC and they should be allowed to get on with the job. It should not require the intervention of the Prime Minister to elevate this routine activity to the level of national policy. After all, cleaning drains is just another facet of collecting garbage, and we surely do not need a Minister of Garbage to inflate the bureaucracy.
If Local Government Reform is truly to happen the Central Government should seek to encourage it and not move to stifle governance at this lowly level. What is more appropriate is that the Ministry of Local Government, while it still maintains a semblance of supremacy over the local authorities, should see that they function efficiently. And this should happen regardless of the political leaning of the individual councils.
We accept that hurricane disaster is a matter of national concern but prevention must be instituted at all levels and from the bottom up, not down. The Prime Minister should leave the cleaning of drains to those lower down the totem pole of administrative responsibility.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
