No joke (Kathy Greaves)
Some Shetland councillors/trustees are unwilling to relinquish their hold on Shetland’s oil funds and are clinging on until the bitter end, despite legal advice to change. They don’t want to give up their positions on the trust as they will lose their absolute power over how the funds are allocated. And they don’t look like removing themselves as trustees in the near future.
To remove the control that they have over the funds, would it not be preferrable to elect one member from each of Shetland’s 18 local community councils as trustees? Some community councillors have for years given their time freely for the benefit of their community and for the good of Shetland, and appear to have the right mindset to act from the right perspective.
They also live and work in their community and know the needs and problems in their locality, as well as their neighbours’ thinking on a wide range of matters.
Of course SIC councillors could elect, say, three of their own to sit on the panel of SCT trustees, but no SIC councillors should be entitled to represent local community councils on the panel. It would be interesting to see if this suggestion is discussed at public consultation.
The idea that SIC councillor/trustees could select and appoint eight “independent” trustees could be said to be laughable, but it really is no joke. Surely no-one can take this suggestion seriously?
Kathy Greaves
3 Anderson Road,
Lerwick.
Robert Wishart
“To remove the control that they have over the funds, would it not be preferrable to elect one member from each of Shetland’s 18 local community councils as trustees? ” asks Kathy Greaves. No it would not. They should be elected by the whole Shetland electorate so that they are responsible to the Shetland community as a whole.
Ted Knight
If one considers the historical track record of SIC in relation to the disbursement of Shetland’s “Oil Money” (or, arguably their profligacy with it?) it is patently clear that something is sadly amiss.
Might I suggest a referendum to sort it out once and for all – with an independent body, or individual, to decide the form of words to be used in the question put to a public vote?
Won’t work? The SIC would never agree? Well, get a discussion going, folks – it’s the surest way way to determine if Democracy is alive and kicking 60 degrees north.
Sandy McMillan
Democracy is alive and kicking, except for the Town Hall Mob, they have a law or constitution unto themselves, the sooner they are gone the better for all, with exception to a few who still believe in democracy, as Sue Wailoo states these councillors are a laughing stock of Shetland, and the world, and have been for a number of years now, Councillor Wills and Robinson are among the few who are willing to speak up against, Convenor Cluness, Josie Simpson, and there cleak of four other Councillors,