Devolution complete, provinces ‘empowered’

Raza Rabbani says all federal govt employees to keep their jobs.

KARACHI:

The devolution of federal ministries to provinces has been completed, Senator Raza Rabbani, head of the implementation committee for the 18th Amendment said on Thursday, a year after the amendment was passed.

“We have done our job and now the provinces have to protect the devolution and their autonomy,” said Rabbani.

“They need to further this process, enhance their capacity, improve governance and make themselves more effective,” he added.

The grievances of the provincial governments with regard to autonomous institutions and projects will be resolved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI), he said.

The senator cautioned, however, that the 18th Amendment promulgated unanimously by the parliament is not ideal and the incumbent and future governments should take initiatives to perfect it.

Rabbani said that since independence, no such dramatic  changes have been brought in the constitution and that the 18th Amendment has changed its structure.

“We can now compare our federal government system with that in other countries in the region,” he said, adding that for the first time in history a strong central government has delegated its powers to the grass-roots.

Rabbani cited the example of the dissolution of  then West Pakistan, initially formed under the One Unit scheme, that restored provincial autonomy for the first time on July 1970.

The same thing has happened today whereby the powers of the federal government have been confined, he said. He appealed to the provinces to enhance their capacity to run their affairs smoothly and said all the problems they face can be resolved in light of the 18th Amendment.

The Senator said that all federal government employees will keep their jobs in their respective provinces with the exception of some employees posted in Islamabad.

“We will keep these employees in the surplus pool from where they will be adjusted into other departments,” he said. Rabbani also appreciated the role of the people from Balochistan, especially parliamentarians, who, he said, cooperated in the passing of the amendment.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.