Jichiroren requests national associations of municipal leaders for measures to prevent infection, to strengthen disaster-related systems

Jichiroren on October 7 made representations to the Japan Association of City Mayors and the National Association of Towns and Villages for measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection, to secure municipal financial resources, and to strengthen systems for disaster recovery and prevention.

The visiting members of Jichiroren were vice presidents Nagasaka and Koyama (who is also the Deputy Director of the Constitution and Policy Bureau), Central Executive Committee members Shimabayashi and Saga, and expert member Kawamura. They met with Mr. Nakamura, Deputy Director-General of the Public Administration Department of the JACM as well as Mr. Kono, Vice Manager of the Administrative Division of the NATV.

To jointly urge national government to secure personnel and financial resources

Dealing with the Covid pandemic for a year and a half, many workers at hospitals and public health centers have become exhausted and left their jobs, and their workplaces have come to a critical stage. Jichiroren representatives called on the two associations to jointly urge the national government to address a pile of issues, including securing personnel and financial resources to respond to a series of natural disasters.

Jichiroren demanded that the JACM and the NATV make the following specific requests to the national government:

– In a bid to protect resident’s lives and health, it should get hold of enough number of workers to prevent long working hours at medical institutions and public health centers and take financial measures to enhance operations of such facilities.

– It should be responsible for preventing the spread of Covid infection and drastically increase temporary state subsidies for local development, the emergency comprehensive support grant for novel coronavirus disease, and cooperation money rewarded to business owners according to the amount of sales. In response to the decline in local governments’ tax revenues and funds, it should provide financial support for the reduced portion of revenue.

– It should take financial measures to allow local governments to strengthen their disaster prevention systems, to urgently improve social infrastructure to protect citizens’ properties, such as river embankments, and to ensure early post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.

JACM, NATV: “The purpose of the request is the same as our ideas.”

Pointing out that a year and a half of the pandemic has made clear the importance of roles of local governments in protecting residents’ lives and livelihoods, Jichiroren representatives suggested officials from the JACM and the NATV to make joint requests to the national government regarding issues on which they can agree. As some officials responded to Jichiroren’s request by saying, “The purpose of the request is exactly the same as our ideas,” the officials agreed on the need to continue to make requests to the government, as the two wheels of a cart.