Good governance a must to improve security situation

Local government polls were recently conducted in Karachi. In well-governed societies, this should be a norm, however, in Pakistan local government elections have proven the most elusive of democratic processes, ironically, more so during the rule of democratic governments.

Even now, it took a Supreme Court directive, rather than moving of the democratic wheels of motion, to hold the elections.

Reasons for this democratic anomaly are multiple, and rooted in a general discomfort our political elites have had in transferring meaningful power at the grass-roots level. While much focus is given to identifying the non-recognition this tier of governance has within our Constitution, where the forming of local government institutions is at the discretion of provincial assemblies, as the main cause of weak local governments, that is not really the case.

There are other nations where local governments are also provided similar constitutional cover, like the US. This has not stopped them from forming autonomous, strong and empowered local governments, governed by citizen-approved charters, like Los Angeles and New York City, which are charter cities where no change can be made in the city charter without the vote of the people. Can the same be said about Karachi?

While it would be instructive to briefly touch on the causes of the unfortunate state of affairs afflicting our cities and the local government institutions they are served by, it is more important to strategise for the future where the country is faced with rapid urbanisation.

If, as is the case now, our cities remain ill governed then not much hope can be placed on national sustainable growth prospects. The challenges faced within the local governance tier are linked with the larger dysfunctional construct that envelopes the sharing of powers, finances and functions between all the three tiers of governance.

An effort was made through the 18th Amendment to transfer powers to the provincial tier, but it did not yield the desired results, as the powers have not been matched with capacities and the transfer that should have taken place from the provincial to the local has not happened. In fact, in Sindh, the contrary has happened. Karachi has problems unique to itself when it comes to the struggle for better urban governance.

The political economy in the province is such that political frictions and turf battles adversely impact hope for improved governance. While concerns about viable sharing of powers are of critical importance, what is extremely worrying is the bankruptcy that our vital institutions of local governance are faced with. Cities with worse crime and violence records than Karachi, like Bogota, Curitiba have recovered and mapped a course of rapid urban renewal. However, what is important to realise is that while certain factors like violence and unstable political governance were hindering growth, their local government institutions functioned much better than Karachi's.

There is a need to look at various options for addressing the challenges. Conflict resolution and reaching a consensus vision for Karachi's future between the political stakeholders is a top most priority. Without that any efforts for large scale and sustained improvement are unlikely to succeed. However, there are other important factors that also merit attention. There is an urgent need for opening up the local governance canvas for viable participatory models of public-private partnerships and community engagement and ownership.

The city needs to be pro-actively engaged in a number of innovative enterprises that are taking place involving the mega cities of the world for experience sharing and skills transfer that our city is presently missing out on. Through a series of articles, the author will try to lay out a roadmap for improved urban governance as our local government institutions are ready to initiate another round of governance by their elected leadership. 

The writer is an urban planner and runs a non-profit organisation based in Karachi city focusing on urban sustainability issues. He can be reached at [e-mail]

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2016.