Postedby Mike Hampton on January 24, 2016

Mike Hampton lives in Knysna, South Africa. He will presentallegations of local government corruption and mal administration to Parliament on February 10 2016.

He says " It's been an almost 5 year battle, at great personal cost, to try gain justice for our pretty town. The DA and ANC have repeatedly shown that they don't care about us. I don't know if Parliament is merely another wall to try climb but i have to hope that there is someone in higher authority who still cares for us, the public. I walk a difficult path. The DA and their cronies are trying to shut me up with a flood of court cases. I need your help not only to survive but to better spread the truth."

We Need

We need local political and municipal leaders who put an emphasis on public service, not self-service.

We need political representation that puts us, the public, first (unclouded by provincial or national interests).

We need Councillors who are willing to sign a commitment form… and be voted out of office if they fail in their duty to do their best to uphold their election goals.

We need elected officials whose agenda and constitution are easy to understand.

We need plain speaking political parties and independents that seek and deliver understanding of how our local government works; the state of our infrastructure, where monies are needed and spent etc.

We need independent politicians or locally based political parties who believe in this and more, public servants who are prepared to make this promise and commitment:

PROMISE

I believe in direct democracy, electorate education, communication and honesty.

I promise to prioritise austerity and public service before salary by:

Donating 10% of my Councillor’s salary towards community service e.g. community liaison assistant, charity, promoting culture integration etc.
Opposing councillor salary increases for the first 3 years of public service. In the event of being unable to stop salary increases during that period, I will donate the value of the latest increase received to community service. I will publicly challenge my fellow Councillors to do the same.
To contribute 5% of my salary to my party for running costs not covered by local government.

[these contributions are based after relevant taxation, reducing my income by approximately 20% for my first 3 years of service to those who elected me]

I promise impartiality, to the best of my knowledge, by:

Refusing to join any political coalition (that could affect my vote).
Voting with conscience, on each matter according to its merits, favouring no party, not even a fellow party member.

I promise transparency by:

Supporting free speech.
Encouraging whistleblowers.
Believing in the public’s right to know.
Contributing to a quarterly newsletter/article addressed to the public.
Making my vote on important Council matters known (and explained) to the public.
Encouraging media access to local government.
Posting the party’s annual accounting online.

I promise necessity by:

Addressing tough topics such as racism, crime, drugs, pollution and budgets. I will not avoid tough issues for the sake of public relations or image (for myself or the town/city).

I promise to sign a Councillor Commitment Form that states that the public (who voted me into office) are my employer and thus, after a one-year settling into office period, have the right to recall me if they believe that I’ve failed to uphold my party’s constitution or do my best to achieve my election promises.

COUNCILLOR COMMITMENT FORM

This is a sample form which Mike has drawn up. The idea is to get willing candidates to sign the terms and conditions.

800px-Map_of_South_Africa_with_Eden_highlighted_(2011).svg.png

Knysna Local Municipality is a municipality part of Eden District Municipality located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa

Article by Enda Craig and James Quigley

A Shattering Discovery

What if you found out that you have been swindled or betrayed by your local and national political representatives? What if you found out that your representatives were not representing you and all that they were doing was feathering their own nest? What if you found out what you thought was democracy was nothing short of a hoodwink?

Well we are informing you now that this is exactly the case. There is and has been, since the foundation of the State, a massive hoodwink of the people. Ok, you are supposedly free to elect someone. However, they don't tell you that this person chosen by you, can manipulate you, lie and promise you the moon and stars and they can do whatever they want for the next five years without anybody having a say.

You are brainwashed into thinking that you live in a democratic country where you have power through the ballot box. Does the richest 20% who own 70% the wealth of Ireland not tell you anything? See Ireland’s Great Wealth Divide, by economist David McWilliams

Do the continuous tribunals throughout our short history not give you a clue? See Public Inquiries in Ireland

Just do a quick trawl through Wikipedia's 'Corruption in Ireland' or take a look at an article by Niall O'Dowd, entitled 'Corrupt Politicians Always Ruled Ireland'. He states “When it comes to corruption in Ireland no one was clean or safe. Not the founder of the state de Valera or the most “honest” politician FitzGerald, or the longest serving taoiseach Ahern. Add in the various golden circles that surrounded most of the Irish political leaders and you have a fair old recipe for corruption and graft on a massive scale.”

Can you see the big question yet?

It's not until it comes to our own back yard that the reality of corruption and the ineffectual response to it, or the question of what power and representation citizens really have, hits home.

Our worst fears have been confirmed by today'sarticle, January 25th, in Donegal Daily 'Councillors told they cannot expel Cllr John O'Donnell from Committees'.

RTE Investigates Corrupt Irish Politicians

On December 7th RTE Investigates Unit aired a program 'Corrupt Irish Politicians'. (click photo). This program blew the lid of what seems to be massive corruption to Irish politics.

Among other details of widespread fraud, it showed three local authority Councillors, John O'Donnell, Ind, Donegal, Joe Queenan, FF, Sligo and Hugh McElvaney, FG, Monaghan, easily solicited by a bogus wind farm company and how they agreed to work on the firms behalf in their respective counties. However, for this service they asked for money.

The content shocked the nation. However, most people were not surprised. This feeling was summed up by Catherine Murphy, Social Democrat TDin Leaders Questions December 8th . She stated in the Dail “ what I saw sickened me, however, it did not surprise me. There is a culture of non compliance and utter lack of effective enforcement.”

The feeling in Donegal was no different to the rest of the country and even the dogs in the street knew corruption goes on all the time, that it is only the tip of the iceberg.

The irony is that it took a national broadcasting service to expose the the corruption and the disregard of politicians for the people and their blasé attitude. As if it was an everyday occurrence, the norm. It took RTE to do what the government should have done, protect the people.

This lack of duty by our politicians, councillors, our representatives begs many questions about our democratic system. Why are they in office and what is their contract of employment?

Still Nothing done

It is now over six weeks since the programme aired and nothing has been done both nationally and locally. Apparently nothing can be done. There is no legislation to deal with it. At local council level it is business as usual and none of the three councillors have resigned their council seats. The only inconsequential result was that both Mr Queenan and McElvaney have distanced themselves from their respective parties. One possible reason for this is to save the party's reputation because of impending elections. There will be no sanctions, no prosecutions, no expulsions from office, no loosing pensions, no loosing salary or perks. And the people who sent them to office have no say in the matter whatsoever.

It is a sorry state of affairs to see a few councillors acting with integrity and not get backed by all councillors. See Donegal Now acticle Councillor Refuses to Work with Cllr John O'Donnell. The system whose duty it is to act on the public's behalf is broken, trust is gone and we have been let down once again. Are our representatives running for the hills, protecting themselves by making excuses, oh well, what can we do, sure there's no legislation?

It is even worse to see Cllr McBrearty removed from the Joint Policing Committee by chairman Gerry McMonagle after asking for the removal of John O'Donnell from the committee in Lifford. DonegalDaily, Janurary 22nd.

Ordinary people do the right thing.

It takes a community groups to show gutless politicians the way. On January 20th a Letterkenny Community Residents Group made the following statement

"We decided at the monthly meeting last night that we will not invite John O'Donnell to attend future meetings with our group” DonegalDaily Jan20

The System is broken – Trust is Gone. But what really is happening

When individuals/candidates apply for a position in a company the following scenario would usually be the norm.

The candidate would apply for a position. They would attend an interview where they would attempt to convince the potential employer/boss that they are the right person for the job. If successful they would be given a contract, outlining what the job's responsibilities and criteria would be. This contract would stipulate terms and condition and what could happen in the event of certain types of unacceptable behaviour or practices.

In extreme cases the employee/candidate could find themselves, at least, being dismissed if found in contravention of employment conditions. It could even result in prosecutions and jail. This could happen anytime from the moment they were employed.

So why in the profession of politics should things be any different? Where has the power/right of the employers, the people, gone? Surely the employees can not be relied to decide for themselves.

BUT THEY ARE.

And you might wonder why there should be any difference in the employer/employee relationship.

Who are the employers of elected representatives? What is their job, their contract, their terms and conditions? There does not appear to be any. Should it not be the case that those who elected the candidate, YOU, that you are the employers? And if the candidate refuses to or does not adhere to the contract, or there is gross misconduct, then we, as employers, should be in a position to remove them.

It is no wonder that politicians behave in such a carefree, couldn't care careless, manner. It is not surprising that they treat their employers and employment with such utter disdain. It's the cart before the horse or the employee dictating to the employer.

Our representative get FIVE years of untouchability. The vast majority of them recognise they have been given carte blanche to grab and take as much as they possibly can get their grubby hands on. There is an accountability deficit here which glaringly demonstrates the weakness in the employer/employee relationship.

Take for example the case of Donegal County Councillor John O'Donnell. It should not be left to his colleagues to decide his punishment/fate for his well documented behaviour. They are simply his fellow workers and more importantly our employees.

They should be acting on our behalf. If they don't know what to do then ask us. Follow the courageous example of the Letterkenny Resident Community Group. The Councillors are not as ineffectual as they make out.

Ok, the system is broken and apparently there is no adequate legislation to deal with the problem. That's hard to believe. At least do what some councillors did, refuse to have anything to do with fraud and corruption.

It can not be left to politicians/employees to monitor, judge and police themselves. It is glaringly obvious that they most of our representatives are unwilling to do anything about it or even to admit to the weakness in the system. We can not trust them. It should be up to their employers, the people, to dismiss their representatives as and when required. This could, for example be 'Recall', practiced in many other countries.

It is the people, that should put in place a system that allows them to immediately recall their public representatives who behave and demonstrate they are no longer fit for purpose.

By making the comparison with ordinary employment protocols, we demonstrate how the ordinary people are being hoodwinked and disenfranchised by a totally cynical system.

In good company(left to right)  Top; Padraig Flynn,  Ray Burke, Bertie Ahern, Liam Lawlor, Brien Cowan, Charles Haughey.  Bottom; Hugh McElbaney, John O'Donnell, Joe Queenan — In good company(left to right) Top; Padraig Flynn, Ray Burke, Bertie Ahern, Liam Lawlor, Brien Cowan, Charles Haughey. Bottom; Hugh McElbaney, John O'Donnell, Joe Queenan