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Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Noel Arscott, says the Government is moving “full speed ahead’ with local government reform. He said that three pieces of legislation, to facilitate the process, are to be fast tracked. These are: the Local Governance Act, the Local Government Financing and Financial Management Act, and the Human Resource Management Act. “We are...

Newly appointed Mayor of Kingston, Senator Angella Brown Burke, has welcomed the announcement that the Government has commenced the process of entrenching local governance in Jamaica’s Constitution, which will enable autonomy in the operations of the island’s Parish Councils. This announcement was made by Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Noel Arscott, during Monday’s (April 2) swearing-in ceremony for...

Councillor for the Norman Gardens Division of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), Senator Angella Brown Burke, was sworn in on April 2, as the 51st Mayor of the nation’s capital. Senator Brown Burke was elected, by acclamation, to the top political post in the KSAC, by virtue of being the sole nominee for the position, and duly took...

Veteran Councillor in the St. James Parish Council and President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Glendon Harris, has become the 15th Mayor of the City of Montego Bay. Mayor Harris, who has represented the Maroon Town division for 22 unbroken years, was sworn into office during a ceremony Thursday March 29, at the Montego Bay Civic Centre. The new...

The town of Falmouth, in Trelawny, has a new Mayor. He is Councillor Garth Wilkinson, of the Falmouth division in the parish. Councillor Wilkinson, who is also Chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council,  is one of nine persons who were victorious in the recent Local Government elections, held on Monday March 26.  He won the seat in the division as...

The ruling  People's  National Party (PNP) has won the  2012 Local Government  Elections,  gaining  149  seats  to the Opposition Jamaica Labour  Party’s (JLP) 76, with Independents winning the other two. The elections, which were held on March 26, saw the PNP winning 12 of the 13 parish councils, including the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC). There was a tie...

Jamaicans are being urged to go out tomorrow (March 26) and vote in the Local Government Elections and make their voices be heard on issues concerning local governance. "It's a participatory process and community members should not leave the governing of their communities and the decision making up to someone else without having a say,” said Consultant on Local Government...

Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, says the Government is committed to putting a fully developed local government structure in place, as a means of effective governance and sustainable urban development. He said the administration also “firmly believes” that in order to advance an urban development agenda for Jamaica, “the voice of the people must be...

The rehabilitated Negril Wastewater Treatment Ponds, in Westmoreland, were commissioned Wednesday March 14, by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller. The rehabilitation work was funded by Jamaica and the European Union (EU), at a cost of approximately $278 million. Original construction of the facility was completed in 1999, to serve Negril and its surrounding communities. The upgrade has...

The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), fortified by a budget of some $900 million, is reporting that all is in place for the March 26 Local Government Elections. The upcoming elections, to allow for political representation in 228 divisions in the 63 constituencies island-wide, take place just under three months after the December 29, 2011 General Elections. The voters’ list...

State Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Colin Fagan, is assuring that the Government is committed to fast-tracking the local government process. Addressing a special meeting with the Manchester Parish Council in Mandeville last week, Mr. Fagan said the administration wanted to ensure that “the work that was started some time ago…gets to the point...

Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Noel Arscott, said the Ministry is exploring ways to reduce the high cost to the parish councils for street lights, which is projected at approximately $2.6 billion this year. He was responding to concerns raised at a special meeting of the Manchester Parish Council in Mandeville on February 24, that the local authority...