Edmond Campbell, Senior News Coordinator

Parish councillors and mayors have unanimously approved a resolution calling for a fixed date for parish council elections and the entrenchment of local government in the Jamaican Constitution.

The decision was made yesterday at a meeting organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Environment for councillors, mayors and secretary managers of parish councils, at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

Norman Scott, a People's National Party (PNP) councillor for the Greendale division of the St. Catherine Parish Council, moved the motion at the conclusion of a workshop to discuss Government procurement procedures.

Clamouring for change

The resolution was seconded by Mayor of Spanish Town, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, who told The Gleaner yesterday that this was a move in the right direction as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had previously "clamoured" for this change.

In his Budget Debate presentation earlier this year, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding repeated his call for constitutional reform while making a case for a fixed election date.

Councillor Scott said the resolution would be submitted to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Mr. Golding.

He said Minister of Local Government, Dean Peart, would also be taking the resolution to Cabinet for approval and subsequently to Parliament for enactment.

At the same meeting, Milton Brown, chairman of the Association of Local Government Authorities (ALGA), urged the Government to overhaul legislation that gives the Local Government Minister powers to dissolve parish councils.

Morally wrong

The ALGA chairman contended that no minister should have the authority to dissolve a body which constitutes other elected persons.

"While it is legally correct, we think that it is morally wrong and unjust and we are proposing that the Constitution should determine what constitutes local government and the local authorities," Mr. Brown said.

Yesterday's workshop was organized by the Local Government Ministry against the background of audits, into the operations of a number of parish councils, which revealed breaches in the procurement procedures and irregularities at the St. Catherine Parish Council.

Representatives from the Office of the Contractor General were invited to address the workshop and to outline established rules that should be followed by the local authorities.

Percival Griffiths, director of Licences and Permits at the Office of the Contractor General, told the gathering that his office was charged with the responsibility of monitoring and investigating the awards of Government contracts to ensure that there was no irregularity in the process.