Three strategic laws of local government to be emphasised, says PNP president
WESTERN BUREAU:
OPPOSITION LEADER Mark Golding has declared that, if the People’s National Party (PNP) should gain victory across municipalities in the February 26 local government elections, his administration will emphasise the upholding of the three strategic laws of local government which were passed in 2015.
Addressing a meeting of PNP supporters in Falmouth, Trelawny last week, Golding said he was aiming to put the three strategic laws – the Local Governance Act, the Local Government Unified Service and Employment Act, and the Local Government Financing and Financial Management Act – into effect in such a way that no political representative will be exempt from accountability.
“The three strategic laws that govern local government, we passed them into law when [former PNP President] Portia Simpson Miller was prime minister. We put local government in the Constitution of Jamaica, which says there must be a democratic system of local governance in Jamaica. We did that, [and] I was minister of justice then,” Golding, who is president of the PNP, told the meeting.
“We want to implement the three strategic laws in the way it was intended, holding our representatives accountable for their performance for the people, but giving them the support and the resources so they can deliver the services on the ground that the people deserve and want – proper garbage collection, street lighting, roads that are decent to drive on, and water supply systems,” Golding added.
In 2013, drafting instructions were given by Cabinet for the creation of the three strategic laws, which were described as being crucial to the process of local government reform and modernisation of Jamaica’s local governance system.
The three laws were passed into law on November 10, 2015, having been piloted by Noel Arscott, the minister of local government and community development at the time.
Golding also took fresh shots at Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, specifically its handling of the October 2022 demolition of informal settlements in Portmore, St Catherine and sanctioning of persons who breached COVID-19 curfews during the pandemic.
“The PNP under my leadership will be focusing on the things that make life better for the people, because we want Jamaica to be nice for everybody, not just for the few, not just for those who are friends of those who have power… the Jamaican people are tired of them and they have no trust in this Government or its leader. They don’t trust a man who would lick down poor people’s houses, and they don’t trust a man that would impose massive fines on people who were just outside their yard during COVID and say they breach the curfew, fines that never came to Parliament for approval,” Golding asserted.
The meeting took place last Wednesday as the climax of a tour of communities in the Trelawny Northern constituency, to drum up support for the PNP’s councillor candidates ahead of Nomination Day last Thursday and the February 26 local government elections.