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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Hold local elections to raise accountability
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to last Thursday's report, 'Town Councils to be assessed individually'. The new steps are partly driven by the $16 million in investment losses suffered by three town councils last year.
The assessment methods revealed by the Ministry of National Development are inadequate in dealing with the core problem, which is the need to increase accountability.
When specific performance measures are announced for an organisation, employees and managers will act so as to meet those narrow goals; and this may be to the detriment of the broader objectives of the organisation.
New goals will arise that are part of these objectives, but no action will be taken to achieve them because they are not part of the official list of performance measures.
The only way to make sure that the goals of residents and their town councils are aligned is to hold elections for town council posts.
Local elections will ensure that town councils are aware of the needs and requests of their residents and will increase residents' say in how the councils, which they fund, are run.
Such elections will also increase the motivation for the councils to be more vigilant with their decisions and provide residents with some recourse in case they are unhappy over how their towns are being run.
Finally, elected councillors will minimise the impression that these posts are an extension of a Member of Parliament's reach.
The new performance measures will lead to a race to increase conservancy charges based on the premise that more money is needed to maintain or increase a town council's ranking.
Without local elections, residents will have no chance to discuss if this is the best approach for their town.
I would not be surprised if the new measures do not raise residents' satisfaction levels over their town councils' performance.
Harminder Singh
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to last Thursday's report, 'Town Councils to be assessed individually'. The new steps are partly driven by the $16 million in investment losses suffered by three town councils last year.
The assessment methods revealed by the Ministry of National Development are inadequate in dealing with the core problem, which is the need to increase accountability.
When specific performance measures are announced for an organisation, employees and managers will act so as to meet those narrow goals; and this may be to the detriment of the broader objectives of the organisation.
New goals will arise that are part of these objectives, but no action will be taken to achieve them because they are not part of the official list of performance measures.
The only way to make sure that the goals of residents and their town councils are aligned is to hold elections for town council posts.
Local elections will ensure that town councils are aware of the needs and requests of their residents and will increase residents' say in how the councils, which they fund, are run.
Such elections will also increase the motivation for the councils to be more vigilant with their decisions and provide residents with some recourse in case they are unhappy over how their towns are being run.
Finally, elected councillors will minimise the impression that these posts are an extension of a Member of Parliament's reach.
The new performance measures will lead to a race to increase conservancy charges based on the premise that more money is needed to maintain or increase a town council's ranking.
Without local elections, residents will have no chance to discuss if this is the best approach for their town.
I would not be surprised if the new measures do not raise residents' satisfaction levels over their town councils' performance.
Harminder Singh
