More power for local government bodies: PM

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar wants to cut back on centralised planning and hand more power to local government bodies.

That would come, she said, after the July 26 Local Government Election.Nomination Day for the vote in July 5.Persad-Bissessar will be meeting with her party Monday to have a look at the list of nominees for the various regions in the election.

She said nominations are "flying in" in addition to the ones that had been in place even before the general election. The party had been screening potential candidates for local elections before former Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced the election that propelled Persad-Bissessar into office.

Local elections have been postponed four times and the prime minister is eager to hold the election in order to give people an opportunity to choose their representatives at the local level.

She said that is part of the process by her People's partnership coalition to restore democracy.

"We need to complete the change we started, and we have done so at the national levels, so we need to do that at the local level as well,” she said.