- Efficient local bodies are vital for good governance
By: Mian Rauf
In a federal system, devolution is the statutory and constitutional delegation of powers from the central government to regional and local governments, which aims to make governance structure more efficient and responsive to local needs. Devolution of powers at grassroot level is of vital importance in heterogeneous countries like Pakistan, where large segments of the population remain marginalized by centralist and patronage-based governance mechanisms. The framers of our Constitution have adopted the federal form of government for efficient administration as many regional issues under this system are dealt with at state level. It is understood that devolution aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government services by bringing governance mechanism closer to people.
No political system is considered completely democratic if it does not have a system of local government. Under the doctrine of devolution of powers, local government serves two purposes. The first is the administrative purpose of supplying goods and services, the other is to represent and involve citizens in determining specific local public needs and how such local needs could be met. Moreover, a well- functioning and empowered local government can serve a number of political and economic goals by allowing marginalized and disgruntled segments of society a greater say in governance. By giving power to the people, where it actually belongs, the future well- being, stability and unity of the nation will be enhanced. Local governments can enable the local monitoring communities to manage their primary social and civic task. To make devolution of power effective, the district governments have to be granted vast financial and administrative powers. Effective decentralization of authority is essential to ensures people’s involvement in government from village to the national level.
People’s empowerment in real sense was the main plank of PTI’s agenda of reform as the Prime Minister has repeatedly said that centralization of power had deprived the people of any meaningful say in governance affairs. He must struggle to fulfill the promise he had made to his supporters during election days
Although Article 140A of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973 casts a duty upon the provinces to establish local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of local government, the provincial governments remain reluctant to endow them with significant decision-making power and sufficient resources. Since democracy returned to the country in 2008, Pakistan did not have functional local governments. The absence of devolution of powers to local governments has been the main hurdle in the way of providing essential services at the local level in Pakistan. In 2010, Parliament passed the 18th Amendment to the constitution, which devolved significant power from the centre to the provinces and was lauded as a necessary step to overcome Pakistan’s authoritarian legacy of excessively centralized governance. The amendment also required the creation of local governments by the provinces to bring government closer to people but the provinces did little to facilitate the process of making the local governments functional.
The provinces have been slow to establish local institutions. After the 2013 general poll , local elections were conducted in 2015 on party basis for the first time in the history of Pakistan but the local bodies were ineffective in Punjab and Sindh on account of new legislation enacted by the assemblies of these provinces. The local governments had nominal powers and a little finance at their disposal to carry out developments works. Only the KP government gave real powers and money to these bodies. Though Pervez Musharraf’s local system had its flaws, it arguably worked much better than the set-ups the PPP and PML(N) introduced in their respective provinces.
The PPP always considers itself the champion of devolution and repeatedly accuses the centre of grabbing powers belonging to provinces. But when it comes to empowering local bodies in Sindh, it does not want to share its administrative and financial powers with districts, particularly Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest metropolitan city. In his recent press conference, the Karachi Mayor got emotional and lashed out at the Sindh government for hindering the city’s development.
The current local government system should be redesigned and should be given freedom to ensure public participation in true spirit. Well-designed local government systems help in improving the quality of local services, empowering marginalized and poor communities, and reducing ethnic conflicts. For efficient administration, provincial governments should ensure complete transfer of powers related to services in accordance with Article 140A of the constitution so that local bodies can be involved in the decision-making process and provide better service delivery. Provincial governments should also constitute their own Provincial Finance Commissions (PFC) where local governments should get their respective shares from the divisible pool according to the size of population, area and level of backwardness.
People’s empowerment in real sense was the main plank of PTI’s agenda of reform as the Prime Minister has repeatedly said that centralization of power had deprived the people of any meaningful say in governance affairs. He must struggle to fulfill the promise he had made to his supporters during election days.
The writer can be reached at [email protected]
