What do you expect of a Councillor?

Councillors on St.Helena fulfil a number of roles:    (click on the entries to jump directly)

• Representative for individual issues

• Policy maker

• Legislator

• Champion for political views

• Monitor of Government performance

• Information source

• Executive Council member

• Ambassador for St.Helena

 

Representative for individual issues

If you have a grievance with the Government (or even a positive suggestion), often you will need someone in a position to obtain information for you, to talk for you to people or committees who take decisions, and generally to represent you in a dialog with Government. This is a common reason for a voter to choose a candidate in an election. Note that the candidate you choose need not be a relative or a colleague or a friend. He or she has to be someone who convinces you that they can help.

It used to be the case that most people had a single Councillor for the constituency where they live – nowadays, everybody can effectively ask any of the Councillors to represent them for these purposes. Some will be better at it than others. 

Policy maker

The major role of a Councillor is a politician's - that is, Councillors decide (or ought to decide) policy. Policies are broad-brush principles for guiding the actions of the Government, stating generally what should be done, when it should be done, and assigning priorities when resource conflicts arise. Policies focus far less on how things should be done or by whom - this is the domain of the Government.

A significant policy decision is, of course, the budget. But it is by no means the only one. The Councillors that you elect will have to be able to have a vision for the development of St.Helena in all of its aspects, while having the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances.

Next: >>  What do you expect of a Councillor? continued (Legislator...) 
<< Back