Local government is not just a part of Jamaica's democracy. It must be seen as a part of how we govern ourselves out of our crisis. The crisis is not just economic. It is a crisis of governance itself. The failure to get local governance right is a part of that crisis. Ideas about a 'crisis Cabinet' or 'War Cabinet' run the risk of repeating the old error of thinking that government must be run from the centre.

Many of the inefficiencies of government lie in that very centralised system, based as it is on a commandist model of politics that lacks the strong local institutions needed, and indeed, effective intermediate institutions between local and central government as well.

In a crisis, governments cannot simply get by on the basis of muddling through as we have been doing. Reforms cannot simply be about devolving and decentralising services either. And it cannot just be about putting people at the centre of governance, or worse, merely talking about doing so. Greater autonomy or freedom of people to act is a good thing but the capacity to accomplish goals is also critical.

A conference at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in January sought to examine what must be done with local governance to make it effective. Dr Eris Schoburgh of the Department of Government and Dr Philip Osei of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) led the conference. The conference was timely because its insights will contribute to the need for a new kind of governance that is becoming increasingly necessary in the Caribbean - crisis governance.

IMPORTANT INSIGHTS

There were two particularly important insights from the conference. One is how we think about local government and the other is what we do about it. We think about local government as a contrast to central government and we think that government operates at these two discrete levels with the centre dominating the local. What is often missed, however, is that there is a space in-between and more correctly, connecting the two. This is the space of intergovernmentalism and this was precisely the theme of the conference.

Intergovernmentalism means that there are a number of agencies of central government concerned with regulation (like licences and permits and fees) and general administration (such as delivering services, accounting, planning, monitoring and implementing) that link central and local governments in these intergovernmental areas. The conference believes that more attention needs to be focused on these agencies, rather than just on central ministries and local parish councils if one is to better or truly understand the problems of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in local government.

Many of these agencies play a part in environmental regulation, garbage collection, urban planning, street cleaning, fire services, and they serve and service both levels of government although they answer more to the top, directly and indirectly, than to the bottom.

It is a fact that many of the inefficiencies of these agencies, despite their good intentions and the commitment of some of their personnel, are blamed on local government. Local government gets the blame for matters of politics and administration outside of or not entirely within its control, notwithstanding its own relative inefficiencies.

The second matter of what to do about local government - the reform question - follows. Governance reforms should also be directed at these intergovernmental agencies so that they coordinate better with the purposes of local government. It is here though that the major obstacles are found, obstacles such as determining who gets what powers and who gets what resources. These two questions are at the heart of local/central government reform.

Take this simple example. If the power to charge and receive licensing fees for a number of regulatory and administrative services were shifted from these agencies that serve central government to the agencies to serve local government then local government would probably have enough resources to be autonomous and to serve the Jamaican people more effectively.

AUTONOMY AND CAPACITY

Dr Schoburgh herself made a vital point. Autonomy is a good idea but other things must precede it. It must be preceded by capacity building, meaning putting in place what is necessary to get things done once local government has the autonomy to get more done. Capacity building means, for instance, having the people and systems for accountability in fiscal and other matters of local government. It goes beyond having better trained and educated employees.

It is fine to upgrade skills and competencies and institutions like UWI and the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) help to do that. But if these trained people go back into the old modalities of dysfunctional institutions (attitudes, behaviours and policy outlooks) then they will suffer exactly what many complain about - frustration and inability to get the system to change and respond.

Capacity simply means that if you are removing garbage you have enough trucks, drivers, supervisors, information, and so on to get the job done on time. We have seen some people demonstrate the capacity to steal 500 truck-loads of sand from 400 metres of beach and to transport and deposit it with a large number of trucks, drivers and various accomplices - no mean organisational feat - while the National Solid Waste Management Authority can only look on in envy.

If we could demonstrate the capacity to remove waste of such magnitude through intergovernmental agencies working at such speed we could surely keep our country clean and make our communities happy. Local and intergovernmental agencies would win the respect of the people and autonomy would be well deserved.

We have spent far too much time already trying to get local governance right, partly because we have not demonstrated the capacity to fix governance in a way that can manage the other national crises that we face. As we manage the crisis of governance we must remember that governance is intergovernmental. It is not just about the work of the cabinet or parliament and their ministerial and committee systems.

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN COMMUNITIES

As we think about local government reform, we must remember that the whole purpose must be to bring democratic governance into our communities with the capacity to assist those communities to manage disasters and waste, crime and social violence, learning and school maintenance, safety and infrastructure, health services for our children and elderly, parochial roads and bridges, land and farms, small business networks, and all those services upon which we depend for making it through the harshness of our daily lives.

A survey by the Latin American Public Opinion Project in 2006 showed that satisfaction with local government services in Jamaica was the second lowest among 15 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. We were only above Haiti, a country that at the time was virtually a failed state.

That is a confirmation of our crisis. Hopefully, the Department of Government and SALISES, their staff and, very important, the graduate students whose important research were part of the University's conference, will keep this problem of crisis governance in focus for future research and reform.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona campus. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com.