Over the past years, Village Councils have been functional in our rural communities without party politics interference. To begin with, council members were not selected by party political ballots and it seemed to work well for our rural residents. Today, it has been proven that direct party political elections destroyed the social fabric of our communities. This community dividing factor should neither be tolerated nor encouraged to identify village council officers. Why interfere with a system that has been working well for the people?

Certainly, this approach divided the residents, and up to date it is difficult to assemble the supporters of both political parties to attend community meetings to debate village issues and to engage in voluntary services. It is comfortable to say that the outcome is presently haunting the administration of any elected Village Council in our rural communities especially if the members are chosen along political party line.

The effect is obvious, since after more than six months of lull, the elected Hopkins Village Council decided to convene a public meeting. Due to the deplorable condition and lack of electricity in the village community center, the meeting was held outside. Despite a number of serious issues affecting the community, the main agenda was to discuss the upcoming September Celebrations.

The good public turnout indicated that the populace expected the Council to unfold its plans for the remainder of its term in office, but nothing of that sort was delivered. The meeting got chaotic when the issue of the destruction of the wetland behind Hopkins was raised by a number of displeased concerned citizens who wanted some answers. It was obvious that the village council members are not fully knowledgeable of the dredging of this sensitive area and other projects in the community that are supposedly endorsed by the government or the area representative. Moreover, being the elected custodian of the community, the Council was unable to provide a study that has been done to prove what the ramifications are with this dredging. Is the area representative treating the residents of our community as the ‘Soweto’ of the 60’s and 70’s? Area representative, life is too short to waste time hating vulnerable people.

I believe that I am quite in order to voice my concern that the village council act of irresponsible governance is contrary to meetings and proceedings of the council that are clearly stipulated in the Village Council Act, Chapter 88, Revised Edition 2000. According to the 2000 Act, it states that a council shall meet once at least in each quarter and at such other times as may be fixed by the rules or when convened by the chairperson or other members of the council. This section of the Act has been grossly violated by our present village council.

Furthermore, the Act authorizes any three officers of a council to present a signed requisition to the chairperson to convene a meeting. To make the requisition more binding, if the chairperson fails to convene a meeting, the Act permits the three officers to proceed with the meeting within the expiration of the seven days requisition. Are the council members familiar with the Act? It must be emphasized that the village council officers are not paid, expect the chairperson who receives a monthly stipend of fifty dollars. Therefore, any community spirited individual who is desirous to serve his or her community as a village council officer needs to be familiar with the Village Council Act and must understand that it is a voluntary undertaking and ought to be taken seriously and maturely.

Unfortunately, on numerous occasions, the persons elected to serve as members of our village councils are not familiar with the Act that gives them the mandate to govern their communities. Hence the reason they become ineffective leaders in the communities causing them to be politically manipulated. The powers and duties of the Village Council charged the elected officers with the good governance and improvement of the community; this is not visible in the Hopkins Village Council. Without any reservation, I need to echo that the tasks required of village council officers need serious and committed individuals and not political party driven members who cannot make constructive decisions for the merit of the community.

The village council power that is clearly explained in the Act seems a power that is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a number of abusive politicians or naïve party favourites. In my view, this move is not healthy for the development of any community, especially whenever the people are acquainted with one another. Moreover, it is an act of disrespect to the office of the elected members. In this respect, a numbers of our open - minded elected village council officers feel that the power is distributed more, rather than less, unequally than it was before. It also affects the motivation of a number of elected village leaders to the extent that they do not bother to be concerned about the development of their communities.

In conclusion, due to party political interference in Village Council elections, competent residents are not attracted to hold office. Moreover, genuine officeholders in the community experience unpleasant difficulties causing them to betray the trust of those who voted for them. One typical example is the exposure to the abuse of power and criticism from concerned citizens of Hopkins that need to rely on the village council officers to explain to the residents just who is responsible for the destruction of our wetland and the desecration of our deceased. Due to the Council’s relationship with the present government, it allows things to change in the blink of an eye. By reason of the complexity of the project, The Hopkins Group of Concerned Citizens still maintains its allegation that it is not government funded and we need to be proven wrong. Due to the party political affiliation of the village council officers, they disgustingly neglected their responsibility to their electorates. Besides, being criticized for their unaccountability and neglects, their duty or obligation to the community is unnoticed. Good community leaders do not let their people down. In the course of selecting community leaders next year, ‘Say no to Political Elected Village Councils’.

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