MINISTER of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie says November will be devoted to driving service and restoring trust in the public sector.

Speaking at the official launch of Local Government and Community Development Month 2019 (November) at Turtle River Park in Ocho Rios, St Ann, yesterday, the minister said that local government is more “accountable, transparent and committed than ever before”.

“A commitment that we gave to the country is that we would bring Local Government to the level, where the trust and respect that is required in order to drive the service, that we restore it,” said McKenzie.

“I want us to raise the bar much higher than we have set it, because the success of local government is predicated on all of us, regardless of who we are,” he added.

Against that background, he said that local government month will take on a number of activities, key among them is the rehabilitation of the St Elizabeth Infirmary in Santa Cruz on November 13.

In addition, the ministry will grant ‘Junior Mayors’ across the country $750,000 to undertake special community development initiatives.

Junior mayors will also be paying courtesy calls on the prime minister, governor general and leader of the Opposition on November 15. They will then attend a youth mayors’ forum at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on November 20.

McKenzie noted that funds will also be allocated to the 14 municipal corporations to embark on various programmes.

“I urge my councillors to work with me to achieve the things that we want to achieve and we can’t do it by ourselves. We also have the ministry, the staff of the municipal corporations and the support team that work with us on the outside. “So, our role is critical to the final outcome,” the minister said.