GOVERNMENT has started making preparations to install a Local Government Commission to oversee the upcoming local government elections .Mr. Emil McGarrell, Permanent Secretary (PS) attached to the Ministry of Communities made this disclosure on Tuesday in a sworn statement during the ongoing Public Service Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
Local government elections were last held in 1994, but has not been held since. They were constitutionally due since 1999.
McGarrell said the Ministry of Communities which combines the former Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and Ministry of Housing and Water has already started the implementation process.
The Ministry of Communities is in the process of proposing a structure for the newly-formed Ministry of Communities to the Public Service Department of the Ministry of the Presidency.
This document will also feature an explanation of the ministry’s structure for approval.
“Notwithstanding that the Official Gazette laid out the four functioning areas [of the Ministry of Communities] there has to be a structure in terms of delivering the service… and the complement of staff that will enable us to carry out the functions of the new ministry,” McGarrell said.
The ministry functions in four areas – housing, water, local government and regional development.