Progress stifled without local reform

It was not long ago, until 1986 to be exact, when we had just a handful of mayors and a few refugee municipalities, all working within their clearly defined territories and cooperating with nearby communities.

Then, with the need to accommodate members by political parties, there followed the “popular” demand for more municipalities, which continued with the second wave of expansion in 2011 with some town halls at present having a population half (or less) than a nearby village.

Nowadays, you only need to go down to a local market and shout “Mr Mayor” and half those present will probably turn around.

Nicosia had one mayor for many years, but instead of enhancing the mayor’s powers, these were clipped, as they were seen to be infringing onto the turf of politicians who have the God-given gift to appoint anyone from a low-level civil service clerk up to professors in universities and cabinet ministers.

Never has the greater good of the public been taken into consideration, with the growing indifference in recent elections evident of that mistrust that citizens have in their local administration.

Nicosia, with a metropolitan population of not more than 300,000, is the capital ‘city’ surrounded by another eight municipalities.

The entire urban sprawl of Limassol has six municipalities, and all of these have their councillors whose numbers grow according to voter headcount.

There has been talk in the past of cross-town cooperation, from sharing sewage systems (which work) to sharing rubbish collection (which don’t work).

Some have different policies as if there is a race to prove superiority, with some municipalities regularly collecting and pulping shrubbery and wood collected from gardens, to others that refuse to touch the stuff, for fear of catching a disease.

Yet, when it comes to who is to blame for not cleaning up the riverbeds in time or unblocking the street-side grates, or even holding back on road developments that would be a service to the public and growing car traffic flows, our mayors are champions in oratory and finger-pointing.

Unfinished road works, dirty streets, lack of infrastructure are the legacy that these mayors will leave behind.

Of course, there are the exceptions to the rule, bright examples being the mayors of the island’s two extremes – Ayia Napa and Paphos – with everyone else in between ranging from mediocre to total failure.

These two have enjoyed a wave of cultural rebirth in their towns, combatting corruption, constant cleanup and, as a result, steady inward investments.

With all this in mind, it is probably timely to reconsider redistricting and merging a lot of these municipalities, as have been suggested by several past and present studies into the matter.

Oh, and political parties shouldn’t be too worried about losing their grip.

Larger municipalities will need satellite administrative departments or boroughs, so everybody will still get a seat at the table.

It’s just that they will work better, only this time they should take us, the ordinary citizens, into consideration more seriously than before.