| Smaller islands have different concerns at reform meetings | | Print | |
| Friday, 18 June 2010 08:30 | |||
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People attending public meetings on the smaller islands had different thoughts about proposed reforms to the Constitution and elections, and for some obvious reasons, says reform leader Kate Sullivan. “If you live in Provo, your relationship with the media, your relationship with government, your relationship with the larger society is different than if you live on Salt Cay,” Sullivan said.
“Again, if you live on Grand Turk, government is more immediate to you perhaps, because it is physically there. So you do get different views, which I expected to get, which is one reason I went to all the different islands, because life in Provo is very different to life in Salt Cay, and it is important that everyone has the chance to share their views.” For example, people on Middle Caicos are strongly against merging their constituency with another, as has been suggested by some politicians. And they yearn to have island councils instead of a single district commissioner to handle island affairs. District commissioners were recently replaced on North and Middle Caicos with no explanation from the interim government. “Respected community elder Alton Higgs (advocated) a return to the system of district boards, whereby local residents could actively engage in projects deemed important to the community, with budget available, and no need to involve central government,” said Conch Bar resident Sara Kaufman, who attended the meeting and reported on the discussion. “Strong support for the concept of island councils, and strong opinions against the current system of one individual in charge were expressed by several.” Although Sullivan has not reached her conclusions on whether or not local government is part of a suggestion she might make, she was “very interested” to hear those views which she said came up, particularly in the smaller population islands. “It is something, if you want to have local government, you want to entrench it in the Constitution,” Sullivan said. “So if I do think it is a useful model to follow, it is something I will be suggesting in July.” Middle Caicos residents also were concerned about a lack of knowledge what was going on in government, including “regular information from all levels of government so the population can be educated about actions and activities underway, and to education to raise the level of knowledge and understanding of government among adults and in the schools,” Kaufman said. Sullivan agreed, especially where it concerns the Constitution that is currently being debated. “People should read about it more than they have,” she said. “Going forward, there is a definite responsibility on government to make sure that people are educated about their government and their constitution arrangements. That would usually start in the schools, but that is not a responsibility that ends when people end formal education.” Sullivan said copies of the 2006 Constitution would be given to all district commissioners for people to read. Click here to read the TCI Constitution. Click here for a summary prepared by Kate Sullivan.
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