Local Government Reform and Compliance

In 2006 the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, embarked on a slew of initiatives for capacity building and compliance in order to reform and strengthen the local government process in Jamaica.

            These efforts got underway from the beginning of the year under the watch of then Local Government Minister, and now Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.

            Mrs. Simpson Miller, was accompanied by Ministry and Parish Council officials, and participated in Local Government conferences held during 2006 in Trinidad, Brazil, and Scotland, which for the most part, were aimed at strengthening local democracy and exchanging information and ideas.                           The conferences were also geared at improving on strategies to foster public participation in the local governance process.

            In March, Mrs. Simpson Miller attended the Commonwealth Local Government Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland. Jamaica was among some 40 Commonwealth countries that supported the ‘Aberdeen Agenda for Local Democracy and Good Governance’, a 12-point plan outlining the key principles for strong local democracy, drawn up at the Conference.

            The freedom to choose local representatives, partnership and respect between spheres of government, adequate powers for Local Government, and citizen involvement in decision-making were, provisions in the Agenda.

            Addressing the conference on the topic, ‘Fostering Healthy Democracy’, Mrs. Simpson Miller said that a Local Government system “must be based on the recognition of it as a distinct sphere of government with responsibility for local self management and sustainable development”.

            Mrs. Simpson Miller was re-elected Chairperson for the Caribbean Forum of Ministers, weeks before she assumed duties as the country’s new Prime Minister.

Local Government Reform

            Twelve years after the Local Government reform process was embarked on, the Ministry remained confident that it was a move in the right direction.

            The reform was initiated with the aim of increasing the capacity of local authorities to carry out their functions with less reliance on central government.