KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, and ministry officials say they will be meeting with councillors on a regional basis, for a series of special orientation sessions.

These sessions will begin tomorrow, January 4 in Kingston, and continue through much of the first quarter of the calendar year, to February 16, 2017.

According to a news release from the ministry, these interactive orientation sessions are designed to expose councillors to the range of duties they must perform as individual representatives of their divisions, and also, as collective municipal and civic representatives.  

The ministry said participants will also be advised about the laws and policies that govern their stewardship, in addition to how they should execute their duties. The sessions will involve McKenzie, senior leaders of the ministry, Contractor General Dirk Harrison, technical experts from the Ministry of Finance and the Public service and the Protocols Office, among others.

McKenzie said the timing of the sessions is important.

 “I had announced the schedule of meetings during the consultations in December, to alert the Municipal Corporations to the scope and intensity of work that we all have to do in 2017. We are starting very early in the new year, to allow all the information that the councillors require to be fully absorbed, and to have all their questions answered.

“This level of training is unprecedented, but it is absolutely vital that we do this, if we are to transform Local Government into the leadership and service delivery powerhouse it most definitely can be, in the shortest possible time.”