Bureaucracy museum: Give the city where it belongs

If implemented as it is, Islamabad LG bill will mean business as usual, say citizens.

ISLAMABAD:

The leafy Islamabad has changed for the better -- politically speaking.  It has witnessed a steady rise in rallies, processions and protests over the years.

But in a city where governments are formed and dissolved, political deals are made, laws passed, and the fate of the nation decided in luxurious assembly halls, the residents have long been bereft of a local government (LG) that could help provide for their basic needs.

Despite having six representatives in the 2013 Parliament (two national assembly members and four senators), the residents of Islamabad remain at the mercy of bureaucratic agencies which are notorious for their maneuvering and inefficiency.

As provinces geared up for LG elections in 2013 with some push from the Supreme Court, the federal government too inched towards providing a legislative basis for similar elections to be held in the capital this year.



Hotch potch bill triggers debate

But the basic document, the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Bill 2013, is so flawed that it might only end up maintaining status quo in the capital at best, according to speakers who discussed the bill at a consultation on Monday.

The consultation on the bill was organised at a local hotel by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The bill was introduced to the National Assembly on December 9, after its draft had been approved by the Cabinet Division. As per the bill, the local government would consist of union councils for the rural areas and a metropolitan corporation for the urban.

But members of the civil society, residents and representatives of political parties at the consultation did not hold back as they criticised the bill’s contents. The bill, the participants said, had numerous problematic clauses which would defeat the purpose of having a local government and allow the federal government and the bureaucracy to maintain its hold over the capital’s affairs.

The participants unanimously called for the bill’s draft to be completely rewritten.



Pointing out structural flaws, the Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development (IRADA) Executive Director Aftab Alam said “this bill, in its current form, should not be taken forth at all.”

Alam said according to the bill, the local bodies budget would have to be approved by the federal government which could also remove elected LG representatives.

Other controversial issues include a clause that allows the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to retain its responsibility for collecting property tax, which is considered one of the most important revenue streams for the city. According to the bill’, the federal government would then divide the collected property taxes among the metropolitan corporation and the CDA as it wished.

Another clause of the bill that drew the ire of the participants suggests that candidates running for local government elections would be disqualified if they use the flags or symbols of a political party in their campaign implying that the LG elections would be conducted on a non-party basis.

The participants mentioned that an earlier draft of the bill was so poorly copy-pasted from the Punjab government’s local government bill that references to Punjab were not even changed before the draft was sent to the Cabinet Division. They claimed this exposed the federal government’s intent of running Islamabad like Punjab.

The urban-rural disparity was also scrutinised at the consultation.

“Some of the rural areas in Islamabad are worse in terms of basic facilities than the villages in my hometown in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” said Senator Saeeda Iqbal, of the Pakistan People’s Party. She said the bill should ensure the provision of equal facilities to rural and urban areas.

Other participants said a poorly established local government structure would ultimately hurt democracy.

“A mock local government will shrink the democratic space in the country,” said Strengthening Participatory Organisation Chief Executive Naseer Memon. “A weak local government is counterproductive for democracy.”

Memon said citizens have certain minimum expectations from a democratic dispensation and it would not be wrong if the responsibility of providing primary healthcare and primary education services is given to local governments.

Participants suggested the bill should ensure at least 33 per cent women seats and five per cent youth representation and elections to be held on party-basis. It should allow local government to collect the General Sales Tax on services generated in Islamabad, they said.

“We request the government to consult with residents and come up with a new draft bill that presents a strong idea of a local government is suitable for a country’s capital and reflects the needs of the residents,” said CCE Executive Director Zafarullah Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2013.