Local Government Elections 2016 (LGE 2016) the message from the PNM platforms was clear: A Vote for the PNM is a Vote for Local Government Reform!! This election is about Local Government Reform!!!
“The PNM's cam­paign for the No­vem­ber 28 lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tions will fo­cus on lo­cal gov­ern­ment re­form. As sure as night fol­lows day, the PNM gov­ern­ment is go­ing to re­form lo­cal gov­ern­ment to bring pow­er to the peo­ple. The par­ty is ready to de­liv­er.
It is re­al and it will hap­pen. Just as night fol­lows day, lo­cal gov­ern­ment re­form is go­ing to hap­pen this time," PNM Chair­man and Min­is­ter of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment and Rur­al De­vel­op­ment, Franklin Khan, de­clared at the of­fi­cial launch of the PNM's lo­cal gov­ern­ment cam­paign on 30 October.
Every night we were reminded – Vote for Local Government Reform, Vote PNM!!! We Red and Ready.
WHO COULD REFORM LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The impression was deliberately cultivated. By voting for PNM Councillors, the burgesses would be ensuring that the LG Reform proposed by that party would become a reality within the 2016-19 Term of the Corporations.
But, even if PNM won every one of the 137 seats in the 14 Corporations, Local Government Reform was not to be implemented by anybody in the Corporations.
Why? Because Reform of the Local Government system (using the THA model as suggested) had to be done by amending the Municipal Corporations Act and at least 6 other pieces of legislation. And, no Mayor, Chairman, Alderman or Councillor of a Regional Corporation, even a reformed Corporation had any power to change an Act of Parliament.
That is for the MPs and Senators to do. That is for the Government to do.
Corporations are under the control of the Local Government and Finance Ministries at present. 
As such, the Corporations are controlled by the Central Government NOT the burgesses of the Corporations.
So, a vote in LGE 2016 was not really a vote for LG Reform, but, may have signalled a desire for reform of the Local Government system which burgesses want in a manner which empowers them in decision-making that affects their lives at a very basic level.
REFORM - LOW GOVERNMENT PRIORITY
An Express Editorial, in mid-July 2018, reminded us - “More than 18 months after the 2016 local government elections, reform seems to have dropped off the Government’s priority list…. Ahead of the 2019 local government elections, the population must insist that reform is returned to the national agenda and that they will cast votes based on meaningful improvements in their communities rather than stake a claim for their respective parties in the 2020 general election.”.
In fact, the Local Government Reform Bill (The Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Bill, 2019) was only laid in Parliament on 24 May 2019, 6 months before the end of the current Term of Corporation representatives. The Bill was then referred to a Joint Select Committee a month later on 26 June 2019.
On 3 November 2019, 1 month before the December 2 LGE 2019 polling date, Franklin Khan, now PNM’s as­sis­tant cam­paign man­ag­er reminded us that the Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Re­form Bill, which seeks to amend the Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tion’s Act, the Prop­er­ty Tax Act and six oth­ers, is cur­rent­ly be­fore a Joint Se­lect Com­mit­tee of Par­lia­ment.
He said, “The chances are the leg­is­la­tion will not be passed be­fore the lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tions. Hav­ing said that, for over four decades, suc­ces­sive ad­min­is­tra­tions have been promis­ing lo­cal gov­ern­ment re­form.”
NO REFORM IN THE CURRENT TERM
Khan admitted, “De­spite lo­cal gov­ern­ment re­form be­ing a 2015 elec­tion promise of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment, the leg­is­la­tion that would give more au­ton­o­my to mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tions will not be ready ahead of the De­cem­ber 2 Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Elec­tions.”.
So, despite promises in General Elections 2015 (GE 2015) and again in LGE 2016, another LGE campaign is upon us and the PNM has failed to deliver its promised Local Government Reform. This seems a bit like déjà vu. Between 2006 and 2010, the PNM promised LG Reform, postponed LG Elections 2 or 3 times, but failed to deliver.  The PP also failed to deliver in 2010-2015.
Why no delivery in 2016-19?
As Khan explained, the necessary legislative changes, the Reform Bill, has not even been debated, far less passed by the Parliament. The Draft Policy was issued in October 2016. But, the Bill did not reach Parliament until May 2019.
Mounting the PNM LGE 2019 platform in Tunapuna, the Leader of the PNM, presented a different picture, seeking to blame the Opposition UNC for the failure of the PNM to deliver LG Reform within the current LG Term. (See video - https://youtu.be/mUN-QEE5UAs)
BOGEY TIME
According to PM Rowley, “UNC's legal challenge on property tax put the local government reform initiative on standby because the revenue that it would generate was going to be the lifeblood of reform…the revenue from the tax is to be used to pay for goods and services in regional corporations…”.
He even raised the bogey that in GE2020, “the UNC will again use its 'axe the tax' slogan”. This led to headlines like – UNC’s property Tax challenge affecting local govt reform. UNC Sabotaging Local Government Reform.
Even if the UNC has a Court matter regarding the Property Tax Act, that has nothing to do with why the Local Government Reform Bill was only brought to Parliament 6 months before the end of the 2016 LG Term or why it has not yet been passed.
The Property Tax Act was amended by Government as recently as June 2018, but it makes no provision for the collection of Property Tax by LG Corporations. That Act says that ALL property Tax is to be collected by the Board of Inland Revenue and go into the Consolidated Fund.
The Local Government Reform Bill 2019 is what proposes to introduce a new Part V – Property Tax into the Municipal Corporations Act to allow Corporations to collect property tax from Residential Properties within each Corporation only. 
The Reform Bill also proposes to amend the Property Tax Act by its clause 10 to also require payment of Residential Property Tax to the Corporations and empower the Finance Minister to allow a portion of other property taxes to be collected and retained by Corporations.
So, contrary to the PM’s Platform Talk, the PNM’s assistant campaign manager was correct. The failure of the PNM to bring the LG Reform Bill to the Parliament before May 2019 an get it passed is the real reason for the non-implementation of LG Reform.
Aspects such as the Planning function and expansion of the Municipal Police have been going on.
But, because the Reform Bill has not been passed the LGE2019 will see Councillors elected into the same old un-reformed Regional Corporations.
Blaming the UNC for the PNM’s failure to act on its own promised Reform sounds pretty much like a page from the Cambridge Analytica playbook, as the PM now so often likes to refer us to.
In LGE2019, perhaps the burgesses should register their displeasure at yet another failure to deliver Local Government Reform by a third Government administration in the last decade and more and let this be a Referendum on such failure.
Perhaps, a New Slogan GE2019 - NO REFORM, NO VOTE!!!

​Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society and Empowerment of
the People.
November 10, 2019
 

“Peo­ple have told us they're not vot­ing red or yel­low and tonight we have giv­en them, all who don't want to go left or right, come to the cen­tre.”. Those were the words of the Chairman of a new political party launched in the capital city recently.
The Port of Spain People’s Party (PPM) is a regional party which has made it clear that it is only contesting the capital city’s corporation in the December 2 Local Government Elections. This is not the first regional party in such elections. In 2016 there were at least 2.
The Chairman had previously told the media that “Peo­ple are very, very dis­sat­is­fied with what’s pass­ing for gov­er­nance in TT”. He is the author of a book titled “Conspiracy Against the People” which examines the Local Government arrangements in Trinidad.
It would be logical to expect that this party would be bringing a new approach to local governance. After all, Local Government structure and function are defined in a piece of legislation, an Act of Parliament – the Municipal Corporations Act, Chapter 25:04 of the Laws of this country.
So, if this new party were to succeed in defeating the PNM-UNC political monopoly (the red and yellow), the PPM will not be in a position to change the law governing local government since it will not be in Parliament.
That would be the case even if it were not a regional party, but national, and won a majority in every one of the 14 Corporations.
In fact, not even the ruling PNM sitting in the Parliament and Government has been able to bring about any reform of the Local Government system which it promised in the 2016 Local Government Elections.
The fact that the PNM won 83 of the 137 seats in 2016 gave them no ability to make any changes to the system or even push their own Government to make the changes which they told burgesses they needed during their campaign.
They even went so far as telling electors that by voting in 2016 they were voting in a referendum for the PNM’s Local Government Reform policy even though its contents were not even fully known to the public.
Before them, the UNC holding the majority position in the People’s Partnership and the other parties in that Government failed to bring about Local Government Reform which formed a major plank of both General and Local Government Election manifestos.
There were consultations, but no change.
And, before that the PNM in Government for almost a decade, promised Local Government Reform and postponed elections 3 times but never changed anything.
The city of Port of Spain is in dire need of revitalisation, of re-planning and re-design and modernisation. This need has existed for well over 60 years. It is much more than getting rid of 3,000 latrine pits that the PPM has promised.
In the 1960’s, Pegasus, the organisation founded by Geddes Granger, with the input and participation of scores of professionals and ordinary citizens, developed a plan for the revitalisation of Port of Spain, Project Port of Spain.
Architects, Engineers, Surveyors and Civil Servants volunteered hours per week to develop this project in 1966-67 which would have to be implemented by Government. The Government supported it in words but took no action.
Since then, almost every Government has promised redevelopment of East Port of Spain and the present administration recently presented its own ideas about revitalising the capital, plans largely developed without the input of the burgesses and without a philosophy needed.
In 2019, for a new regional party lamenting the state of decay of the city, points to the failure of successive Governments and to the real desire of the People for a voice in decision-making that affects their lives at a fundamental level.
For our governance to advance, to open the road to Democratic Renewal of our Electoral and Political processes and for the advance of the nation-building project, the PNM-UNC Political Monopoly must be defeated.
The PPM has offered itself for that purpose.
So, while an elected PPM, may not be able to change the Local Government law and may carry out only so much of a work programme that the central Government funds, they will have the opportunity to engage the burgesses in Residents’ Associations and otherwise in the new governance of participation in decision-making. This will be most valuable experience for the future.
Despite the limitations of the present Local Government structure, the burgesses of the Port of Spain Corporation have an opportunity to contribute to that advance by defeating the PNM-UNC monopoly on December 2.
Hopefully, they will grab that opportunity!

Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society and Empowerment of
the People.
November 2, 2019

On the evening of Divali, the PDP of Tobago launched its marathon campaign for GE 2020 and THAE 2021.
In promoting the event, PDP Political Leader, Watson Duke, enticed the media with promises of ‘bombs’ to be dropped. On Sunday evening, he said “I know the media come here listening for bombshell …bomb. I pass dem stage. PDP pass dem stage…. We ain’t about bacchanal and dem ting.”.
But the media was not disappointed. Duke dropped a political ‘bomb’ of a different explosive power, a virtual megaton nuclear warhead.
Duke said, “I want to draw the line today in the sand …. When we get those 2 seats in the East and the West and in 6 months’ time you will have full internal self-government. Now let me explain what that means… If it wasn’t clear to you, let me tell you this. What I’m asking for is secession. We need to move away from Trinidad. But, but, the but is this, we will remain united with Trinidad just as the European Union…. all the nations are independent…”.
 Well, that was like a hurricane of a category much higher than Flora ever unleashed in Tobago.
Amid PNM’s new-found infatuation with internal self-government and self-determination after vehemently denouncing Robinson for demanding the same in the Parliament, another Tobago politician dares to use the S-word Secession and demand a New Union with Trinidad.
Duke is not the first. A P T ‘Fargo’ James Tobago’s lone representative in the LegCo 1946-1961 held the conviction ‘that the island should become a separate political unit independent of Trinidad... Until the end of his career and life he maintained the view that Tobago should secede from Trinidad.”. (Luke, Learie B.. Identity and Secession in the Caribbean: Tobago versus Trinidad, 1889-1980).
Dr. Winston Murray, Tobago Parliamentarian 1976-1981, advocated an independent Tobago with its own flag and anthem. He dramatically hoisted his Tobago flag in Scarborough and displayed it on his desk in the Parliament.
There have existed for a long time 2 political lines on how to resolve the historical hurt felt in Tobago when the colonial power, for their own purposes and reasons, decided to form an administrative union between Tobago and Trinidad making Tobago a Ward of the new unitary state.
One line supported the maintenance of the unitary state with decentralisation of state power to an institution in Tobago. The other held that Tobago should be an independent state. Some form of new union would then follow.
The fundamental problem is that Forced and Unequal union created by the British colonial power must be replaced by a Free and Equal union between the nations of Tobago and Trinidad.
Some have argued for ‘more autonomy’ or ‘internal self-government’ in the hands of the THA. Others have called for a Federal arrangement. Still others have suggested the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla model in which each was guaranteed the right to self-determination within the Constitution with the Right to Secede formally recognised.
The current Constitution Amendment (Tobago Self-Government) Bill 2018 before a JSC of Parliament proposes a pseudo-federal structure with a bi-cameral Tobago Legislature, Executive Council, Public Service and Service Commission with powers to borrow from international sources.
The Rowley administration forcefully rejects the inclusion of the Right to Secede as a Constitutional guarantee of the right to self-determination for either Tobago or Trinidad.
Duke’s clear statement on full internal self-government and what it means – secession and a new and different union on a new basis is a continuation of the Fargo James-Winston Murray line in the politics of Tobago and its fight for a Free and Equal Union with Trinidad.
His bold assertion has already drawn the fire of the PNM which only in recent years has claimed that it is the champion of internal self-government for Tobago which it denounced since Robinson moved the motion in the 1980’s.
The PNM sees Duke and the PDP as a threat to its control of the THA and its continuation as the Party-in-Power in the central Government. It is also aware of the widespread dissatisfaction among Tobagonians with Kelvin Charles as Chief Secretary and taking steps to replace him.
They have been spending huge amounts on projects in Tobago to try and preserve their political control on the island and in Government and they will spend even more in the next year.  
No doubt, they will launch their own bombshells to try and counter this very bold move by Duke and the PDP and their clear objective of wresting both Tobago seats in Parliament as well as the THA from the PNM.
All of this makes for a torrid marathon campaign by both parties in Tobago.
While the parties wrestle over their self-serving interests for seats and political office, the people of Tobago, and Trinidad, must fight to ensure that their interests and those of the country are not crushed like the grass under the feet of battling elephants.
As a concerned citizen, I have made a submission to the JSC on the Tobago Self-Government Bill - http://clydeweatherheadsite.net/cw-submissions-to-jlsc.html. We all need to pay close attention to this Bill and the issue of the union between Tobago and Trinidad and not get caught up in the platform talk.

 Clyde Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society and Empowerment of
the People.
October 29, 2019