So we are in another silly season of elections and this time we are being asked to vote for local representatives. Many people have no idea who these people are, what they do, and what local government really is- apart for the fact they represent a particular political party. The term ‘local government’ in Trinidad and Tobago is literally an oxymoron (no that’s not a moron with pimple cream on his face)- it means a contradiction in terms. Or a phrase referring to something that simply does exist.

Local Government in Trinidad and Tobago is handled through 5 municipalities and 9 Regional Corporations in Trinidad, and the Tobago House of Assembly in Tobago. This is broken up into: two cities (San Fernando & Port of Spain), three boroughs (Arima, Point Fortin & Chagaunas) and nine regional corporations (Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Diego Martin, Mayaro/Rio Claro, Penal/Debe, Princes Town, Sangre Grande, San Juan/Laventille, Siparia and Tunapuna/Piarco). All are up for grabs. These are sub-divided into 134 electoral districts in all and a councillor has to be elected for each district. The Councillors in each Municipality select the Aldermen, mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice-chairmen as necessary.

Wow… So yes, there are a series of individuals and institutions that ‘represent’ local communities- but the truth is T&T’s central government has studiously refused to let any of these bodies evolve to the form of ‘government’. Local government should refer to a governance system that ensures that local communities have independent, empowered, and resourced institutions that can see after the infrastructural, social, and cultural lives of communities- completely without the assistance and interference of central government. This does not exist in Trinidad.

The popular misconception is that Trinidad has a Westminster system of government in imitation of the British parliamentary model. This is not really true. Trinidad is in fact the world’s most refined form of what is called the Crown Colony form of government- and this is instructive. The Crown Colony form explains all the madness that has made up T&T’s politics for the last 50 years…

The Crown Colony was a form of government evolved by the colonial powers to exercise the most colonial and autocratic control over colonies. Its most evolved form was in Trinidad. The Crown Colony placed almost absolute power in the hands of the ‘head planter’ or Governor- who was only answerable to the Crown or government of England.

In the Crown Colony more power was centralised in the Governor with powers being stripped from the Legislative Council all the way down to Mayors. It means that there are less checks and balances on the power of our leader- the Prime Minister- and his Council or Cabinet- than exists elsewhere on planet Earth. Except for naked dictatorships! This stripping of power does not only apply to governing institutions like Parliament and ‘local government’- but to citizens themselves.

In most functioning popular democracies there are a host of institutions through which citizens can express their displeasure, advocate for change, or actively engage in changing policy and programmes on a daily basis. These intermediary institutions do not exist here. This means that we only really get a chance to intervene in the decision making in our lives at election times. This of course is madness. This accounts for a lot of the frustration of the average T&T citizen- feelings of powerlessness and apathy.

With over $60 billion of taxpayer’s money being spent a year, it means that a government would have spent $300 billion of our resources before we could get a say as to whether they are doing a good job or not! And all we are allowed to really say is which set of political crooks gets a chance at the next $300 billion! This cannot be the way a society functions. It cannot be that the only way we can get heard is by burning tyres and hunger strikes…

Local government should be seen in this light. Most of our demands are very basic- good roads, lights, water, good health services, decent leisure facilities and activities, a healthy, beautiful, and safe environment. These are the things that mostly fall directly under local government within our communities. Local government then needs to become real- with budgets that can be managed at local level to ensure that basic services can be delivered to communities without having to go to central government.

This is a short look at what consists of our local government systems:

Local Government Services
Many of the community services and facilities in your community are provided by your municipal corporation. In Trinidad, municipal corporations are responsible for the building and maintenance of local roads, bridges and drains, collecting garbage, maintaining parks and community facilities, issuing building approvals and overseeing public health and sanitation. The Tobago House of Assembly is responsible for these services in Tobago.

What do municipal corporations do?
Municipal corporations are responsible for the following:
· Secondary Roads, Drains and Municipal Infrastructure
· Public Health and Sanitation Services
· Municipal Building and Development Control
· Community Services and Facilities
· Daily Paid Employment
· Tendering for Municipal Projects

How can I find information or make a complaint?
All enquiries should be made to your local municipal corporation. Complaints can be submitted in writing, by telephone or in person to the municipal corporation, or to the councillor responsible for your area. For councillor information, please contact your municipal corporation. You may also write to your councillor in care of the municipal corporation.

Residents of Tobago should contact:
The Public Health Inspector
Department of Public Health
Tobago House of Assembly
Public Health Compound
Signal Hill
Tobago, West Indies

HISTORY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The earliest type of municipality in Trinidad was the Royal Cabildo, which was established in St. Joseph in 1768 by Spanish colonists. The Cabildo exercised wide executive powers, performing a wide range of functions. The Cabildo appointed chief judges on the island, supervised markets, scavenged and repaired streets, controlled the police, the Royal Goal, the admission of physicians and surgeons, and levied duties and taxes on grog shops. The Cabildo’s operations were much broader in scope that the municipal corporation today. The taxpayers elected the members of the Cabildo annually.

The last Spanish governor of Trinidad, Don Jose Maria Chacon, restructured the Cabildo by limiting its great power. Chacon ordered the Cabildo to be relocated from St. Joseph to Port of Spain in 1784.

When Trinidad changed hands from Spanish to British rule in 1797, the Cabildo’s powers were further limited as the new authorities attempted to change it into an English-type municipality. The Town Council, owing to the rapid development of Port of Spain, soon outlasted its usefulness. In 1853, the Borough Council of Port of Spainwas established. However, owing to repeated quarrels with the central government over money, the British government revoked borough status. Battles to reinstate borough status ended in 1914 with the conferring of the loftier status of city on Port of Spain.

For San Fernando, the abolition of the Cabildo in 1840 and the creation of a Town Council in Port of Spain, gave the people of San Fernando the impetus to press for a similar authority. San Fernando gained borough status in 1853 as well and finally became a city on 18th November 1989.

Arima became a borough by Royal Charter in 1888. Point Fortin and Chaguanasbecame boroughs after. Cities are headed by Mayors and Boroughs are headed by Aldermen. That’s 2 levels of local representation.

Then historically Trinidad was divided into eight counties (St Andrew, St David, etc) which were once sub-divided and controlled by county councils. This form of dividing communities was replaced by regional corporations.

Presently there are 14 regional corporations in Trinidad. The Tobago House of Assembly is responsible for all local government activities on the sister isle. Previously, local government was administered by a system of county council which came into effect in 1945. This system can be traced back to the recommendations of two commissions of inquiry early in the 20th century.

On 28th June 1945, Act No. 18 of that year created county councils. The next year Ordinance No. 18 of 1946 superceded this act. Under these two ordinances, county councils had no executive power. They acted as advisors to the central colonial authorities in matters such as housing, land settlement, hospitals, school buildings, health, water, sanitation, roads, markets, pastures, abattoirs, cemeteries, police stations, public buildings, and social services. Members of these councils were elected officials.

The county councils were given executive powers and became local authorities for areas comprising their electoral districts by Ordinance No. 39 of 1952. Among these powers was the authority to give financial and other assistance towards the establishment and encouragement of community, district, or village councils, and the erection of community centers and halls. Within each county council there were several electoral districts. Each of these electoral districts was represented on the county council by two aldermen and a councilor. A chairman presided over the county council.
Act No. 21 of 1990 brought regional corporations into the local government landscape. Regional Corporations, with each regional corporation representing a specified region, replaced the county councils.

Tobago was administered as a county of Trinidad and Tobago in 1945 when the county council system was first introduced. However, with the passage of Act No. 37 of 1980, the Tobago House of Assembly was revived. The Assembly is responsible for all local government activities on the island. Tobago is divided into seven parishes: St. George, St. Mary, St. Andrew, St. Patrick, St. David, St. Paul and St. John.

MPs
All this ‘representation’ of interests at local level is confused by the fact that there also exists in central government Members of Parliament (MPs) who are voted into office to represent community interests. Things get confusing because these Representatives are supposed to do some of the same work local councillors and Mayors are supposed to do. The workload of an MP is further made confusing because many of them are also made Ministers of Cabinet in charge of portfolios like Health, Education, etc… These really should be 2 different jobs with different types of people doing them! It is very difficult for anyone to be a Minister in charge of a thing like ‘Education’ of a country- and also be an efficient rep for county St George…

A Cabinet Minister should be an expert in a field whose expertise could best serve a portfolio. An MP should then be a person who can concentrate full time on a constituency. The problem will then become in figuring out what are the boundaries of the powers of the 3 forms of local representation: the Member of Parliament; the Mayor; and the Local Councillor. What are the responsibilities of each? What are their respective Budgets? Where should those Budgets come from? Should councillors go up on political party tickets or should they be contested free of party politics enabling activists and community leaders to take part freely?…

What has ended up happening is that all 3 levels of representation- Mayors, Councillors, and MPs- are now tied to party politics and the mathematics of power.So instead of Local Government elections being about the maintenance of communities it becomes part of the endless narrative of which set of party supporters (particular races, party financiers, etc) gets what. Local government needs to be freed from this jumbie…

For all these reasons we all must insist on local government reform as a necessity- as well as constitutional reform to ensure citizen’s have more power and say in the running of the nation…

THE HISTORY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT part of the article heavily indebted to NALIS
FUNCTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT courtesy