ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed: We have moved away from the ideal and are willing to settle for less than desired local govt models. This has happened because local governments serve limited rather than community-wide objectives. We should also discuss how the usual election process has been disturbed by COVID-19 and how institutions like us as a coalition of change should help shape political will in favour of renewable energy efforts. If there?
Amna Zaidi: 18th Amendment states local governments must be set up, but this has not been done fully yet. Decentralisation waves have taken place during military regimes but after the regime falls, these attempts fail. SDG 11 recognises the need for local development. Conduct capacity-building trainings for local governments. She then asked the panellists, in their opinion, what is the biggest challenge to local governments in Pakistan today, and what would you recommend as solution strategies for this challenge?
Mr. Zahid Islam: The biggest challenge is ambiguity in the legal framework, there is no binding law or enforcement for establishing and conducting local government activities. Conditionality is added for approval from provincial authorities. Secondly, there is a needed devolution of power, usually local governments work under provincial government and are not delegated their relevant duties, but rather parallel bodies are created within the provincial government. Lack of a concrete and clear legal framework and devolution of power within the government structure. There is no political will. Ethnic conflict within provinces such as Sindh also contribute to this issue. These local governments also do not have any steady revenue source and thus are dependent on grants. To solve this, firstly we need constitutional amendments. For example, in the Indian Constitution two separate constitutional clauses outline their function, revenue streams and duty descriptions. We do not have this, rather in article 32 we only give the principle for local governments but do not lay out a proper legal framework. There are also contradictory laws within the Election Act on how to hold local govt elections. The Election Commission has limited capacity and is dependent on assistance and consultation by the provincial governments. Provincial governments have no pressure or will to aid local elections.
Altaf Baluch:Our broader framework, the constitution, gives the directive to politically empower local government but lacks any elaboration. Establishing this local government must be made binding. Political will is missing for this cause. The fate of these local government depends on the ruling party’s mandate. Therefore, laws and frameworks change according to whoever is in power. Community-growth development is the key function of local governments but because of a lack of awareness and trainings on the role and function, there is a great discrepancy between theory and practice of the services local governments carry out. He recommends workshops to bridge this gap both with elected officials and to increase public awareness. Elected officials must also be made aware of provincial government procedures and laws of governance. Trainings are the first step, but enforcement is also necessary. Communities must be made aware of their responsibility and must be empowered and made aware of their issues and work together to solve them. Political will is missing, thus communities must drive change locally. Knowledge on legal framework must be given at the grassroot levels.
Amna Zaidi: The common problem identified so far is lack of political will, how would you suggest tackling this?
Ejaz Hafeez: Elected governments do not want to conduct local elections, even now they were held on the orders of the Supreme Court. It has been 3 months since the SC verdict to reinstate officials and still nothing has been done about it. We need a clear system that keeps running independent who is the ruling party. Criticism of government is not tolerated, and elected officials are fired on this basis. There is no sustainable system of local governments. The problem is implementation which is at the mercy of the ruling party. While the supreme court has the power, it lacks the dedication to step in. Funding and power is kept with the ruling party as they do not want to distribute it amongst locally elected govt.
Aftab Alam: We need to see things within Pakistani perspective and history. Pakistan has a history of dictatorships which have used local govt systems to consolidate power and legitimise their rule. Political parties have been targets of these establishments through the local govt system, which is why now they distrust local governments. We must make the administration and bureaucracy unlearn this. We need to look at the establishment’s control over power and give it to political parties to set up political systems. Musharraf made bureaucracy the biggest hurdle to political progress, so now it is impossible to imagine the same bureaucracy giving room and power to these smaller, weaker political establishments. It will take some time for the roots of this to grow. There is a need to have a political debate within the political parties to come up with a constitutional package to strengthen local government’s political power. The constitutional framework should provide common binding principles on a local government that are consistent across the board. The bureaucratic system must be reformed to have a supportive role. Power must shift from bureaucracy to locally elected self-governance. There must be transparency and openness in the system with self-governance and public awareness. These four key elements must exist for the political and bureaucratic pillars to work together otherwise the people will forever be disconnected from the system. First, we must involve people and empower them to hold the system accountable. Bureaucracy must support rather than rule and govern. We also cannot make parallel systems and need local govt systems to be financially autonomous.
Amna: How would you suggest we make the bureaucratic role more supportive?
Aftab Alam: There is serious resentment within the Bureaucracy to the 18th amendment which gives political and administrative power to political actors and provincial govt. We are in the progress of changing our system and in a transitional phase. The question is who is willing to give up power? The more power is disseminated the more political ownership will go to the people.
Altaf Baluch: Suggests a survey for local government on what the past ruling parties delivered. How thesystem is being applied on the ground should be made public. The hinderances in the system should be highlighted as an impact assessment.
Aftab Alam: A new culture of transparency and right to information is necessary for citizens to hold their officials accountable. Reformation is needed to make the system accountable.
Mustaq Ayaz: Musharraf, while not an elected official, moved towards devolution according to the international standard. Federal government consulting provincial governments regarding provincial matters is necessary, communication between different levels of govt must be open and constant. Community-policing and systems are not prevalent in the system. The right to information and transparency must be given to the public and therefore we need reforms. A legal binding framework is needed to curb provincial power and establish local governments autonomously of provincial govt because right now local govt exists at the mercy of the provincial authorities. While the example of India is not always appreciated, its context matches ours. Public awareness on the rights of the people and what their local government representatives owe them and the services they are bound to provide, the people will then not only become part of the system but will hold it to a higher standard. Trainings for local representatives are also needed to teach them their duties and the power/resources to carry them out.Capacity-building trainings and legal knowledge workshops are needed for elected officials. Moreover, enforcement mechanisms are knowledge of these mechanisms are needed to support local govt systems. Direct fund generation, provincial financial commission should have the freedom under the constitution so that there are financially autonomous.
Amna: Do you agree with the challenges presented so far or do you think there’s more to it?
Barrister Mubashir Manzoor: I agree with the challenges given so far but for me the issue boils down to political ownership. Municipality is a component of local government but there needs to be political and financial devolution, the type that was attempted during Musharraf’s rule. Consistency is key to strengthen the capacity of local government. Once there is devolution and legislation has passed, it cannot be reversed at the whim of the government. Capacity-building needs two phases: prior to election, which is harder as there needs to be mass public awareness and the media must play a big role in this. Secondly, after election, council people must go through capacity building trainings across the board. This training component should be added to the legislation. Political will is missing because government officials want to talk about development progress in assemblies and thus do not want to concede power to local councils. This must be dealt with through trainings, so a clear legal separation of power is known by all. Along with legal reform, we need implementation of these laws.
Aftab Alam: With reference to capacity-building, training and refresher courses are part of our system for bureaucracy and judiciary members. A similar institutionalized training system should be set up for local government to teach them about the laws, their role and responsibility towards their public. Organisations like SDPI should work to set up such training institutions.
Amna summarized the challenges highlighted as ambiguity in the law, lack of sustainability and political will as well as the bureaucracy holding too much power. Inclusive and holistic training are needed to educate these officials on the law, their role, and their responsibility. How can we generate political will?
Aftab Alam: Political ownership and empowerment is needed to generate political will. Once political parties own the political structure then they will work for it.
Barrister Mubashir Manzoor: Agrees with Mr. Alam. It is the political leaders that will strengthen the political system. For this knowledge and ownership is needed as well as continuity in the system. The system needs to be sustainable.
Amna: Should Musharraf’s LG system be reintroduced? What would be the limitations of doing so?
Zahid Islam: The problem is that there is no permanency in the training institution and there is no permanency in the syllabus and training manuals. The problem is also not uniform, there is also individual unique problems within the provinces. There is lack of awareness on local government, there is no discussion in the media, within public sphere, within political mandates. We need a holistic approach and more awareness on local govt in curriculums.
Amna: Does our constitution give any protection to local governments from influences of the ruling party? And if yes, then how can a ruling party unilaterally dissolve local governments? Are there any repercussions for doing this? (I’m referring to the dissolution of local governments in KP and Punjab)
Aftab Alam: Constitutional protections do exist but unfortunately it is vague and does not provide a timeline and thus is vastly considered non-binding. Therefore, it is not very effective. This is why we need a constructive package to strengthen and define the laws around local government in a binding manner.