Awareness campaign launched on LG system
Youngsters will be tasked with creating awareness about local bodies system
PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
With no word yet on when the next local government elections will be held in the province, the provincial government on Thursday launched a youth ambassador programme to create greater awareness about the local body system in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas.
Titled ‘Safeer-e-Baldiyat Programme’, the programme was launched in a ceremony on Thursday with Special Assistant to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister for Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Kamran Bangash and K-P Health Minister Shahram Tarakai — who until last week helmed the local government ministry — inaugurated the project.
Under the project, as many as 120 youth ambassadors have been appointed in the newly merged tribal districts (NMTDs) to create awareness amongst people about the importance of local government system and elections, including the salient features and functioning modes of the LG system.
Launched under the K-P Local Government (LG) ACT 2019, the programme will see some 85 men and 35 women appointed as youth ambassadors and district coordinators in the seven erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata).
Bangash said that the introduction of the local government system will usher in a new era in the NMTDs.
He added that the establishment of local governance systems in the merged districts is one of the key initiatives of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government aimed at bringing these areas into the mainstream after their merger with the province.
Bangash, who only took over as the special assistant for local government this week, said that they have notified sub-divisions of the merged districts as Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMAs) as required under the law.
Recruitment of administrative staff for these TMAs, he said, is in the early stages though the provincial government has already developed plans for and has allocated sufficient funds for TMAs to provide municipal services to the people of NMTDs.
Without offering any definitive date for local government elections, Bangash assured that local governments will be soon established in the merged districts after elections.
The civic education programme, he explained, is part of the local government department’s plans to strengthen the democratic process and integration in NMTDs through public participation in local governments.
Tarakai said that the government has hired trained professionals with expertise in the local government system.
Regarding the youth ambassadorship programme, Tarakai said that their ambassadors will visit every corner of the seven merged districts to create awareness amongst locals on the governance system which will be to the districts.
The former local government minister added that as many as 3,600 awareness centres will be created in mosques, hujras, and residence of notables and elders of the region where training on the new local government system will be offered to locals.
Furthermore, the minister said that the new local government system will operate at the neighbourhood, village and tehsil level and that the system is designed to trickle power down to the lowest levels to empower the people. The youth ambassadors would work as local Jirga for the tribal people, he added.
“Extension of the local government system to the merged districts will bring real change and local elected representatives would be empowered to spend 30 per cent of allocated funds of the local government and gradually this model of governance would be extended to the whole province,” he assured.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2020.
With no word yet on when the next local government elections will be held in the province, the provincial government on Thursday launched a youth ambassador programme to create greater awareness about the local body system in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas.
Titled ‘Safeer-e-Baldiyat Programme’, the programme was launched in a ceremony on Thursday with Special Assistant to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister for Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Kamran Bangash and K-P Health Minister Shahram Tarakai — who until last week helmed the local government ministry — inaugurated the project.
Under the project, as many as 120 youth ambassadors have been appointed in the newly merged tribal districts (NMTDs) to create awareness amongst people about the importance of local government system and elections, including the salient features and functioning modes of the LG system.
Launched under the K-P Local Government (LG) ACT 2019, the programme will see some 85 men and 35 women appointed as youth ambassadors and district coordinators in the seven erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata).
Bangash said that the introduction of the local government system will usher in a new era in the NMTDs.
He added that the establishment of local governance systems in the merged districts is one of the key initiatives of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government aimed at bringing these areas into the mainstream after their merger with the province.
Bangash, who only took over as the special assistant for local government this week, said that they have notified sub-divisions of the merged districts as Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMAs) as required under the law.
Recruitment of administrative staff for these TMAs, he said, is in the early stages though the provincial government has already developed plans for and has allocated sufficient funds for TMAs to provide municipal services to the people of NMTDs.
Without offering any definitive date for local government elections, Bangash assured that local governments will be soon established in the merged districts after elections.
The civic education programme, he explained, is part of the local government department’s plans to strengthen the democratic process and integration in NMTDs through public participation in local governments.
Tarakai said that the government has hired trained professionals with expertise in the local government system.
Regarding the youth ambassadorship programme, Tarakai said that their ambassadors will visit every corner of the seven merged districts to create awareness amongst locals on the governance system which will be to the districts.
The former local government minister added that as many as 3,600 awareness centres will be created in mosques, hujras, and residence of notables and elders of the region where training on the new local government system will be offered to locals.
Furthermore, the minister said that the new local government system will operate at the neighbourhood, village and tehsil level and that the system is designed to trickle power down to the lowest levels to empower the people. The youth ambassadors would work as local Jirga for the tribal people, he added.
“Extension of the local government system to the merged districts will bring real change and local elected representatives would be empowered to spend 30 per cent of allocated funds of the local government and gradually this model of governance would be extended to the whole province,” he assured.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2020.