THE Senate last Friday approved a motion, which had been on its Order Paper since September 2012, seeking to have the Government implement critical local government reform initiatives.

The motion, tabled by Government member Senator Wensworth Skeffery, had originally set the March 31 end of the current fiscal year as the target, but had to be amended to the end of the calendar year in December because of the obvious futility of the request.

Several Government and Opposition senators, who spoke in the debate, criticised the delayed process that began in 1995, while insisting that entrenchment of the reformed entity in the constitution was critical for sustainability.

Kingston’s Mayor Angella Brown Burke mourned the fact that it would have been a fitting tribute to Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence to have completed the reform process in 2012 during the celebrations to mark the anniversary. However, she urged the senators to look at it in the context of the next 50 years of post-Independence development.

Opposition member Marlene Malahoo-Forte felt that the reform would not be effective without a comprehensive review of all legislation impacting on the performance of the local authorities.

“When I last checked, there were at least 43 such pieces of legislation,” she said. There are actually 69 local government laws which have to be revised to meet the reform objectives. To date eight have been revised and promulgated.

“My suggestion is that we do not do the reforms in a piecemeal way, even if we have to implement them in an incremental way,” Senator Malahoo-Forte insisted.

Former Local Government Minister Senator Robert Montague pointed to the body of work the previous Jamaica Labour Party Administration did moving the process forward up to 2011.

Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) president, Senator Kavan Gayle called for increased productivity in the local government sector as a critical element of sustainability. Senator Floyd Morris, who is visually impaired, wanted to ensure protection for the rights of disabled Jamaicans in reform legislation; and Jamaica Agricultural Society President Senator Norman Grant felt that the process must recognise the value of the agricultural sector’s critical role in the economies of the communities.

Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding assured that two critical bills — the Act for the entrenchment of the reformed system in the Jamaican Constitution and the National Building Bill — were being drafted.

“I am anticipating that the building legislation will be ready to be brought to parliament in the near future,” he said, noting that the constitutional bill was well advanced, and that he expected a draft from the parliamentary counsel this week.

The motion was passed after the Government agreed to three amendments proposed by Leader of Opposition Business Senator Arthur Williams.

The final motion asked that that the Senate called upon the government to fast track initiatives to finalise the process over the short, medium and long term, and that the Government provide the Senate with a design of its objectives within the calendar year. It was passed with unanimous support.