With promise of good governance, elected LG representatives take oath

Mayor-nominee Wasim Akhtar vows to clean Karachi, fight for more powers

KARACHI:

With a promise to bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan and strengthen its ideology, integrity, solidarity and prosperity through good governance, 1,500 local government (LG) representatives took oath on Wednesday.

The oath-taking ceremonies were held at different locations in all six districts of Karachi. The LG representatives held up their right hands as they read out their oaths, their supporters shouting party slogans in the background. The oaths were administered by additional district and sessions judges in their respective districts.



The elected representatives promised to discharge their duties and functions under the Sindh Local Government 2013 rules, by-laws and regulations honestly, efficaciously and efficiently to the best of their ability. They also promised to observe and obey all lawful directions given to them by the government and vowed to not allow any person or interest to influence their official conduct or decisions.

“I shall promote fiscal discipline and, to the best of my ability, prevent misuse, misappropriation and pilferage of public money,” the elected representatives read out in chorus while taking the oath. They also promised not to directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person any matter which shall become known to them in their official capacity, except as may be required for the due discharge of their duties.

A total of 209 union committees of the city’s six districts and 38 union councils of Karachi District Council took the oath. Of the total number of elected representatives, 988 were wards councilors, 247 chairmen and as many vice-chairmen, and 38 district councilors.



The ‘mayor’ speaks

Speaking to the media after taking oath, mayor-nominee Wasim Akhtar said the next phase will be to serve the city. He requested all political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party, to help him in this cause.

Referring to Karachi as ‘a garbage den’, Akhtar said he will focus on cleaning up the city and plans to launch a week-long campaign. On the limited powers of the elected mayor, he said they needed to regain powers for the mayor. Article 148-A of the Constitution has to be implemented by the Sindh government and, if they fail to do so, all other political parties will help MQM get it implemented, he said.

Akhtar explained that the said constitutional clause clearly states that the powers have to be dissolved to the lower level. “If powers are not given to us, our own people are enough to clean Karachi,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Arshad Vohra, MQM’s nominee for deputy mayor, said the oath-taking ceremony was supposed to be held within 10 days after the LG elections but the Sindh government delayed it.



PTI’s elected chairman for UC18, Firdos Naqvi, said due to the negligence of the Sindh government, roads were in poor condition and gutters were overflowing. She said if the powers were not given to the elected council, the city’s situation will get worse.



City council yet to kick off

No one knows exactly when the city council will start functioning, as even the law is unclear about the issue. Sindh’s election commissioner Tanveer Zaki told The Express Tribune the elections on reserved seats will be held soon, once the schedule is announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Following that, he said, the in-house election for the mayor and deputy mayor will be held and then the city council will start working formally. However, he was of the opinion that there was no restriction of time-frame in the relevant law.

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s director council Ghufran Ahmed also reiterated Zaki’s stance and failed to give any timeframe for the city council’s working. He also did not give a timeframe for the conclusion of repair work on the council building, which has been under-construction for a month.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2016.