Although both major political parties have pledged to put public power in the hands of Bahamian communities, through local government, about 70 percent of the Bahamian population living in New Providence have no organized structure or resources, apart from a vote once every five years, to make decisions about matters which affect their communities - from issues of safety, environmental stewardship, town planning to economic promotion and development.

Local government in the Family Islands is inadequately funded, with no revenue raising powers and no power to engage in the economic promotion in their various districts and towns. In addition to Urban Renewal, I call for the full empowerment of Bahamian communities through a national system of local government, inclusive of New Providence, empowered to raise revenue and expanded functions in public safety, economic promotion and cultural and touristic development within their various districts and towns.

In September 2015, more than 150 countries met at the United Nations and adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which takes into account the role of local governments in achieving the new sustainable development goals. There is a global consensus that one of the best ways of realizing the 2030 Agenda is through strong local government processes. According to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, "When we unlock local solutions, we will advance global progress."

The prime minister of Malta, Dr. Joseph Muscat, stated, "Decentralization processes and effective local governance contribute significantly to deepening democracy and local empowerment, which is critical for the successful implementation of the post-2030 development agenda."

In The Bahamas, there have long been public pronouncements by both major political parties that government is best when it is nearest to the people. However, there has been a continuing reluctance on the part of successive governments to devolve power to the people to make crucial decisions within their communities. The process of decentralization and devolution of the governance process in The Bahamas has been tentative, with school boards, Public Hospitals Authority, Bahamas Maritime Authority and partial local government.

The highly centralized Bahamian state apparatus, inherited from the British without much respect for the attendant conventions, was designed to control a slave population and ensure colonial exploitation. Given this history, a decolonized and sovereign Bahamian nation-state must be engaged in a continuing process of decentralizing public power and empowering its citizens to create safe, prosperous and sustainable communities. Throughout the Commonwealth, robust local government is realizing this ongoing process of devolution, in part.

Warren J. Leverity, former member of Parliament and minister of Out Island Affairs in the first majority rule Cabinet and a founder of the Free National Movement, stated in 1967 that, "An informed citizen is one who participates fully, understanding that democracy is not only the time spent in a polling booth every five years, but rather, democracy is the active participation of that same citizen in the day-to-day affairs of his country."

Immediately after majority rule, the Progressive Liberal Party government in 1967 issued a white paper on local government. Further, in 1989 Sir Lynden Pindling, speaking at a PLP convention, pledged to implement local government throughout The Bahamas by 1992. He stated that the PLP was convinced that "a further democratization of the political system is in the best interest of the Bahamian people  because it would give every citizen a greater access to and a greater sharing in the exercise of power."

Pedro Rolle, president of the Chamber of Commerce in Exuma, states that, "Accepting the premise that nation building and national development should be organic, it stands to reason that growth should be from the ground up. No central governmental entity is more familiar with the problems and solutions of the community than the community itself."

The former Commonwealth Secretary General HE Rt. Hon. Don McKinon, stated, "There is no balance when local government is simply the deliverer of policies and services which are shaped, controlled by and wholly funded from national level. There is a balance when there is a sensible division of powers and responsibilities, a fair allocation of resources and a significant degree of local autonomy in the use of those resources."

Notwithstanding the public recognition of the fundamental importance of local government and the pledge by the PLP to implement the same, when the Free National Movement assumed the government in 1992, there was no system of local government in The Bahamas. It was the Free National Movement in government that implemented a limited form of local government in The Bahamas, with the passage of the Local Government Act, 1996.

The Local Government Act, 1996 authorized the minister to divide The Bahamas into such number of districts as the minister deems fit. The names and boundaries of the local government districts and towns are set out in the schedules of the act. However, New Providence is excluded from those places in The Bahamas where districts will be situated and local elections will take place. The Island of New Providence, with a population, according to the 2010 population census, of 248,948, or about 70 percent of the total population of The Bahamas, is excluded from local government.

The act establishes local councils and town committees as body corporates, with perpetual succession and the power to own property and enter contracts. The act also empowers the minister responsible for local government to appoint members to the local council or a committee of management, in certain circumstances, and allows civil servants to compete in local government elections.

The functions of the local government entities in the Family Islands are essentially limited to those functions that had previously been carried out by the local statutory boards prior to 1996, such as under the Road Traffic Authority, Port Authorities Act, Town Planning Committee, Building Regulations Act, Hotel Licensing Board and the Business Licensing Act, with respect to Bahamian citizens.

In addition, the functions also include general health and sanitation, maintaining roads and verges; cleaning and maintaining public parks, grounds, streets, wells and water tanks, public docks, harbors, pedestrian and parking areas, delivery of mail and safety around schools. George Smith has challenged this narrow functional role of local government and asserts, "Local government includes the community's relationship with law enforcement, stimulating local economic growth and with scores of other matters which touch the lives of residents, their personal interests and well-being."

Local government authorities in The Bahamas have no revenue raising powers and are therefore dependent upon the central government for essentially all of their funding. Further, local government authorities have no statutory role in the economic promotion, touristic and cultural development of their local districts and towns. In fact, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, speaking at the annual local government conference on October 29, 2007, 11 years after the introduction of local government, was forced to concede that the local government structure was in need of radical reform.

Ingraham stated, in part, that "I have long been party to the school that professes that government is best that is nearest the people; that those who live in a community and face the day-to-day needs  and challenges of the population have a special perspective on matters that impact that community. It is regretted that the level of consultation by central government agencies concerned with the approval of major development projects proposed for Family Islands has not always been as wide as might have been. You will all be aware that Manifesto '07 restated the Free National Movement's commitment to the strengthening of local government in our Family Islands and, further, to its introduction in New Providence. I want to assure you that we aim to achieve both during this term in office".

As we now know, this pledge was not fulfilled. However, Ingraham failed to address the need to empower local government authorities to become engaged in economic promotion and raise revenue to lessen their dependency on the central government and to ensure their greater effectiveness.

Alexander E. Williams, recently retired director of the Department of Local Government in The Bahamas, reminded us of the urgency of bringing local government to New Providence: "It is rather unfortunate that at their stage of national development in 21st century Bahamas 70 percent of its people, Nassuvians, do not have a system that brings democracy close to them. It must come sooner rather that later."

Williams further asserted that, "One of the most pressing, debilitating set-backs inhibiting the advancement, effectiveness and stability of local government in The Bahamas is its absolute financial dependency. This has resulted in retardation and effectiveness of the system."

The Bahamas Association of Local Government Authorities (BALGA) proposed to the government of The Bahamas that local government authorities in The Bahamas be given revenue raising powers.  BALGA, with the support of councils throughout The Bahamas, the endorsement of the Caribbean Association of Local Government authorities (CALGA) as well as the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, recommended that the Bahamian Parliament empower local authorities to collect certain local taxes and raise funds to augment the subventions from the central government, such as the following:

License
Bicycle and dog licenses, boat registration (class B) and master licenses.

Rebates to fund small capital projects
1.  Up to 100 percent

Aviation fees

Airports
2. Up to 50 percent

RTD - Motor vehicles and drivers

Hotels - Guest tax

Real property taxes

Fees

Garbage collection - commercial enterprises only

Fundraising - Grants from national and international organizations

1. Community fundraising as approved by the minister.

2. Grants from international organizations, such as the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, the Association of Caribbean Local Government Authorities, the European Union, the United Nations, the U.N. Development Programme and its Small Grants Programme, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Florida Caribbean Cruise Association and VNG International and The Arial Programme.

Similarly, George Smith advocates that local government authorities should be permitted to raise revenue.  He states that, "It would be proper and responsible to empower councils, with the prior approval of the minister of finance, to raise revenue through private grants and special fees for their  own projects and through other money-making schemes designed for the particular community, sometimes in collaboration with organizations such as churches, lodges and improvement associations."

I fully support the recommendations of BALGA and George Smith. However, I believe that we should pursue an even more ambitious decentralization agenda for The Bahamas.

o Alfred Sears is an attorney and former member of Parliament and the Cabinet.

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