IT IS becoming clear that these Local Government elections are being fought on national issues, and several local issues are being studiously avoided. Without doubt the JLP is in that mode, as they have no Local Government policies or programme. It was the JLP in the 1980s that emasculated Parish Councils, removing much of their portfolio of responsibilities, and bringing them close to abolition.

The JLP campaign advertisements for this election say "Enough is enough! Send a message! Make a statement! Show your displeasure with the government! Vote them out!" It's the sort of message you would hear in a General Election. The JLP has no vision for Local Government, and all they can do is tell people to pretend that this is a General Election. They seem to believe that they don't have to advance any policy ideas, any solutions; disaffection with the PNP government will be such (they seem to believe) that election victory will drop in their lap like an overripe mango. It is thinking like this that is the cause of the lack of credibility of the JLP as an alternative
government.

PNP WILL STILL BE IN POWER

But, of course, there will be no General Election tomorrow, and no matter the outcome, the PNP will still be in power. Of the two it is the PNP which is pushing the idea that these elections are about Local Government issues, since the last thing they want is a referendum on their performance as a government, especially in the area of the economy. Their campaign advertisements mention that Local Government gives people a "voice" on local issues, with the flagship being the new Portmore Municipality.

But if the truth be told, neither party really supports profound Local Government, which requires power to be located at the local level (not just "a voice"). Both parties firmly believe in concentrating power at the top, especially fiscal power, and with that approach, Local Government will never be more than a convenience. Both parties are completely confused about the roles of Councillors and MPs and where the division of labour between them should begin and end. And Councillors and MPs constantly encroach on each other's overlapping territory.

Are roads and drains and water supplies and solid waste management and schools and health care local or national issues? Well it varies. There are Public Works roads and Parish Council roads; Parish Council drains and Public Works drains (and sugar estate drains); Parish Council water supply schemes and NWC water supply schemes. Solid waste was firmly a Local Government issue, but was taken away from the Parish Councils and divested to the "Parks and Markets" organisations which actually come under the Ministry of Local Government, which is Central Government. Schools, which in most countries are a Local Government issue, in Jamaica are a Central Government issue, with MPs rather than Parish Councillors nominating school board members. And I am interested to see that a hospital for Portmore is a major campaign issue in the (Local Government) mayoral race, while health care is firmly a Central Government issue.

ENCROACHING

Parish Councillors, who should bear the responsibility for local issues, often find that Members of Parliament encroach on their territory and take on local issues as their own (because their legislative role in Parliament has been usurped by Cabinet and they have little else to do). On the one hand, this might help the advancement of the local issue; but on the other hand, it further marginalises Parish Councillors and Local Government.

And so the General Election last October was fought on local issues, and this Local Government Election will be fought on national issues. During the campaign you are not going to hear anything about decentralisation, devolution of power to Parish Councils on the basis of the Principle of Subsidiarity, and empowerment of local communities. You are not going to hear anything about rationalising Central and Local Government in terms of separating the powers and areas of responsibility of the two. You are not going to hear anything about that profoundly local issue - the environment. The PNP will talk about its success in controlling the slide of the dollar, and the JLP will talk about the failure of the INTEC Fund and the aberrations of Operation Pride.

The major Local Government issue which will be side-stepped by both parties is the phenomenon of garrisons. If you think about it, garrison communities, politically homogeneous ghettos where the Dons "run t'ings", are really about alternative local government: local jobs, the distribution of scarce benefits and spoils, and personal safety on the streets, for example. Jamaica possesses formal local government and informal local government, and this latter is where both the PNP and the JLP are not lacking in their support. When there is to be a demonstration (or counter-demonstration) it is to this community-level local government that both parties have turned in the recent and distant past. No elections there.

Whether they will admit it or not, both sides (and many political individuals) have a lot riding on the outcome of tomorrow's polls; but with the marginalisation of Local Government by both sides, I doubt that the results will make any real difference to the welfare of most of us.

* Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.