INFORMATION minister, Senator Sandrea Falconer, has dismissed talk that the People’s National Party (PNP) Administration is dragging its feet on the holding of local government elections out of fear that supporters may switch sides as frustration mounts among Jamaicans over the harsh economic climate.

“This Government has done very well in office, there is no need for us to be fearful. We have performed,

we have taken this country from instability to stability, and I believe the people of Jamaica know that this Government has performed very well. We are not fearful… we have very valid reasons for the postponement,” Falconer told journalists at a Jamaica House press briefing yesterday.

On Tuesday, legislation was passed in the House of Representatives, despite the absence of votes from the Opposition, to allow the Government to postpone the elections up until December 29 next year. The reasons portfolio minister Noel Arscott gave for the delay were: the need for more time to implement elements of the local government reform programme, as well as to complete the process for the revision of electoral boundaries for the Portmore municipality.

Yesterday, Senator Falconer gave the same reasons for the delay of the elections, which were due by the end of June.

While suggesting that the local government reform process is being held up by strategic pieces of legislation, which are now at various stages in the system, Falconer would not commit to a timeline for the completion, arguing that the Government could not predict how long it would take the chief parliamentary counsel (CPC) to do his job.

“It’s a long process, and along the way there is consultation. We have no control over the time frame that the CPC takes to complete a Bill because of the work that is involved. I could not give you a timeline,” she told journalists.

But over the past three years, as the Government struggles to satisfy conditionalities of a strict International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement, the country has seen a slew of legislative measures swiftly drafted and rushed through Parliament.

Senator Falconer indicated that the focus on fast-tracking these IMF-sanctioned Bills has caused other laws, such as those critical to local government reform, to essentially be placed on the back burner.

“We have given priority in the legislative process to a lot of the Bills we needed for our economic reform programme and, as a result of that, we had some slowing down with local government reform as well, in terms of getting the legislative process going,” she said.

“We don’t have infinite resources at the chief parliamentary counsel’s office, and therefore we have had to prioritise the Bills that we push forward,” she argued.

“They are in the most advanced stage that they have been… and I think that, maybe, for the first time, we will have a credible reform of local government over the next couple of years.”

As to why the elections cannot be held simultaneously with the reform process, which has been ongoing for close to two decades, Senator Falconer pointed out that the December 29 date is not set in stone, noting that the elections could be called before then.

There appears to be no clear answer on the rationale for that date, given that there are no guarantees that the reform measures will be wrapped up by that time.

However, project manager for local government reform, Clive Edwards, explained that the process is three-pronged, and that it is hoped that key pieces of legislation — the Local Governance; Local Government (Unified Service and Employment); and the Local Government (Financing and Financial Management) Bill — will come before the legislative committee of Parliament during this month.

In March of this year, Parliament passed the long-anticipated Bill to have local government entrenched in the Constitution

In the meantime, Edwards said the country could expect the accountability and transparency framework to be completed within this financial year, while the establishment of citizen participation mechanisms has been a work in progress over the past three years.

“We expect that we will be satisfied with all the parishes and how they are working with the local authorities in participating in the budgeting in another financial year,” Edwards added.

When the parish council elections were postponed in 2010, an unfinished reform system was also one of the main reasons offered to the public.

Yesterday, Falconer suggested that “nothing has happened”, and that “tremendous work” has subsequently been done by her Administration to advance the reform process.