I noted in the previous column that the authoritarian state works with limited information about the social and economic forces at work, but that communities, which are inclusive, work with full information. So I continue this column with a fuller discussion on the importance of communities.
They are social networks that can develop certain competitive advantages. They are comparatively small, socially close-knit, and nimble where decision-making is concerned. They are ideal locations on which to build both incubator and accelerator facilities that can foster familiarity with, and enthusiasm about, their social space. A community can introduce programmes that would enhance its cultural nuances and nurturing environment, and the intricacies of relevant joint decision-making and widespread collaboration that provide their corporate and individual entrepreneurs with a head start in successfully navigating the landscape of competitive entrepreneurship locally and globally.
To enable each community to operate as an element of the entrepreneurial state that also nurtures the entrepreneurs within its boundaries, the reforms of the system of government must provide for its rights and responsibilities. First, each community must be identified with appropriate geographical boundaries. Second, each must be equipped with the right to operate as a corporate unit managed by an autonomous and inclusive elected unit of the state capable of recruiting the skills needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. Third, each must have the right to a fair share of the country’s development budget to be spent on community development, especially through the development of profitable enterprises. Fourth, each community must have the right of membership in a defined local government network equipped with legislative oversight capacity that facilitates petitioning to adopt and implement policies designed to facilitate its success. Fifth, each must also have the right to a central government system that is also equipped with an effective oversight capacity to facilitate petitioning that leads to lawmaking and policies designed to support its success. Sixth, each community must have the right of access to an elected national senate with responsibility to ensure fair access to development opportunities by the spatial units of the country.
With respect to the fairness of the share of the national development budget, there is a basic rule on which society can rely. It is that once the legislature identifies the total development budget to be spent on community development, it should be allocated among the communities in proportion to the arithmetic mean of population size and geographical size. This same principle should be applied when allocating the national development budget between Tobago and Trinidad. For that, however, appropriate boundaries are needed for both Tobago and Trinidad. The current six-mile ring around Tobago is inadequate, being both unnatural and unjust.
The profit-oriented development expenditure of the THA and the communities of Tobago can be financed using the provisions of the THA Act without any additional reliance on the GOTT or the Trinidad economy. This would require organisation and treatment of the empowered communities as the entrepreneurial arms of the THA.
The third feature of the new government is the need to ensure fair access to development opportunities all across the country while protecting the rights of the spatial minorities to pursue their own interests. To accomplish this, we need a special-purpose elected senate for both the country and Tobago. That institution should comprise about 30 members, all dedicated to the law-making exercise, with none involved in the executive. How would it work?
Let’s say the EBC is asked to define 24 such constituencies in Trinidad and six in Tobago, approved by the current parliament. The elected Senate would have standard responsibility for the rule of law, working with oversight committees that match those of the House and participating in reconciliation committees set up as appropriate to address various pieces of legislation. It would be responsible for the appointment of senior public officials and judges nominated by the House of Representatives. Crucially, the elected Senate would be responsible for final passage of the development budget and for the budget of the judiciary. It would also have special responsibility to finalise spatial allocation of the development budget among Senatorial constituencies, adjusting the standard allocation formula within prescribed limits (say five per cent above or below) to ensure fair access to development opportunity. Such a Senate would have to work with a high threshold to pass the development budget while protecting minority rights—say 80 per cent of all Senators or at least 50 per cent of Tobago Senators. The thresholds would be similar for laws that need the concurrence of Tobago. Finally, the elected Senate would also have to be assigned special responsibility for annual monitoring and evaluation of the development progress of the empowered communities of the country.
The same principles apply to Tobago and the other 14 local government districts.
Winford James is a retired UWI lecturer who has been analysing issues in education, language, development, and politics in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean on radio and TV since the 1970s. He has also written thousands of columns for all the major newspapers in the country. He can be reached at jaywinster@gmail.com.
