Peeping Tom is either wrong, or mischievous

May 15, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
I was recently attracted to two Peeping Tom captions on the existence of the PNC and the role of central government in counter balancing local government. What struck me about both of the columns under those captions were the factual inaccuracies in those articles.
There are two dangers that flow from those inaccuracies. First, the public is misinformed about the facts; they may therefore misguidedly address these matters in subsequent considerations. Second, the analysis built on those facts may be flawed because of the false premise from which they were deduced.
One of the inaccuracies was about the evolution of the PNCR. Peeping Tom stated that the PNCR was the acronym for PNC Reform, the alliance that contested the 1996 elections. Indeed
there was an alliance of the PNC and the Reform, namely the PNC Reform that contested the 1996 elections, but that was never the PNCR. The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) came in to existence subsequent to the 1996 elections when the Party’s Congress approved a name change from PNC to PNCR, from People’s National Congress to People’s National Congress Reform.
Notwithstanding this name change, there remained two distinct/separate bodies i.e. the PNCR and “The Reform”. However, it was decided that any member of the Reform, the group with which the PNC allied in 1996, could enjoy dual membership, that of the PNCR and the Reform, two distinct organisations.
The other inaccuracy is Peeping Tom’s reference to municipalities and regional democratic councils as local authorities of the same ilk and his consequential reference to town clerks and regional executive officers as officers of the same cloth. Neither of those two propositions is factually accurate.
While both municipalities and regional democratic councils are elected statutory bodies, the essence of their operations is fundamentally different. Municipalities exercise devolved authority and in that regard they are autonomous/independent. That autonomy is partly evidenced that their revenue raising capacity, which they exercise, and the central government’s contribution by way of a subvention which is incorporated into the municipalities revenue line rather than singled out for activities predetermined by the central government to be done on its behalf.
This does not preclude the central government from providing specific grants to municipalities.
On the other hand, regional democratic councils do not presently exercise devolved authority. All of their authority is delegated and exercised on behalf of the central government or its agencies.
Regional democratic councils are not in receipt of subventions. They have budgetary appropriations under the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and execute programmes on behalf of central ministries, such as Education, Works and Health.
It is this difference that also informs the difference between the Town Clerk and the Regional Executive Officer. The Town Clerk is a statutory officer, whose functions are defined by law; however in the execution of those functions he or she is responsible to the municipal council (Mayor and
Councillors).
The Minister’s involvement is in the appointment, discipline and termination of that officer as defined by the Law. The Regional Executive Officer (REO) is a composite officer that entails two appointments. One appointment is as Clerk of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and Chief Executive Officer of the Regional Administration. In both of those capacities, the REO is answerable to the RDC for the work of the Council and its Administration, respectively.
However, the REO is also appointed by the Ministry of Finance as the Accounting Officer and in that regard is the custodian of the centrally allocated funds for the execution of the centrally delegated functions.
Peeping Tom’s likening these offices unto each other is therefore baseless and equally baseless are the conclusions derived from the factual inaccuracies. The public has to be on its guard that it is not misled by those who pontificate on matters on which they themselves are either ill informed or intentionally mischievous.
Vincent Alexander

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Peeping Tom is either wrong, or mischievous

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