Let local govts govern

The chief justice was entirely correct when he said that local govts should “not be mere showpieces”

Once again, the Supreme Court is found reminding the government of its responsibilities. It has asked what steps the federal and provincial governments have taken to empower the local bodies that were so recently elected. A very pertinent question considering the decidedly laggardly approach there was at provincial and federal levels to the whole idea of local governance, giving power as it has to those outside the political mainstream. The Court has ordered the local government secretaries in all provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory to report on the level of functionality in their respective areas — a report that is likely to be uncommonly brief. The Court took an interest in the matter after a plaintiff claimed that the appropriate powers had not been passed to local bodies as required by Article 104-A of the Constitution. The plaintiff claimed that the system looks ineffective and that in some instances individuals voted into the local bodies have taken the oath of office but not assumed the powers that should follow the oath-taking — because those that are required to delegate such powers to them have not done so.

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali was entirely correct when he said that local governments should “not be mere showpieces” — but it appears that they may have to approach the superior courts if they are to gain the powers due to them, an indication that those with their hands on the levers of real power have little or no investment in grassroots empowerment. The reason for that is plain — local bodies are seedbeds in which germinates political change, the place where may grow a different kind of political plant that comes with an independence of mind and purpose that does not chime with the political mainstream. The very last thing that the establishment would wish for. The superior judiciary appears to be on the side of the underdog and at the very least an interesting struggle is going to develop, with the courts as both battleground and referee. In this instance, we find in favour of the underdog. Let local governance commence.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th,  2016.

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