Finance Minister Colm Imbert said under the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Bill, 2020, local government representatives will receive the remuneration due to them because of the jobs they do. He said this will enable councillors, aldermen, and mayors to work in local government full-time.

Speaking during the debate in Parliament to adopt the report on the joint select committee on the bill, Imbert said for years there has been bacchanal when there is debate on the terms and conditions for local government representatives as recommended by the salaries review commission, as the representatives felt their work was not recognised.

'They describe the remuneration as pittances, which is true. For 30 years, the SRC did not recognise the work done, but we not leaving it so, which is why remuneration will be determined by the Cabinet. So, for the first time, they will receive what they deserve."

Imbert suggested that better pay for local government representatives would attract "better" people to the service. He added that some councillors had no other job and survived only on the stipend they earned.

"And that is not right. We have to pay councillors properly, commensurate to the value attached to them, as they are very important.

It is a full-time job to service a local government district, you will have to devote all your time but you will be paid for it.'

Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein said his three main concerns with the bill were that it was not giving enough protection to local government representatives, not enough was being done to reform the municipal police, and too much control was being given to the Finance Ministry.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said he had no confidence in government to digitise local government, given its failure thus far to manifest the promised digital vaccination cards.

He said local government councillors were querying Imbert's statement that the job would be full-time.

'They are wondering, those that have other jobs, what will happen to those jobs, and their pension benefits. This position now carries a salary, will NIS payments be made and by whom? Will each corporation have to have a separate pension plan, with a management committee? How will this affect the majority unions?'

Indarsingh asked if the local government ministry was disbanded and the workers re-distributed to the corporations and the Finance Ministry, how many would have the skill sets to go where placed? He warned local government employees that retrenchment was coming.

D'Abadie/O'Meara MP Lisa Morris-Julian said she was happy that local government representatives would now have access to NIS and maternity and other benefits.

'We will see who is willing to give up their jobs, as we need full-time mayors and councillors. The Opposition Leader said in 2019 that the UNC was in support of progressive reform in 2019."

Morris-Julian said she had spoken to UNC councillors on the ground who were in support of the proposed reforms.

"Local government representati