My Feudal Lord & Frozen Whispers: Local government reforms and the elite lot

Transforming the local governance system has been an integral part of the incumbent government’s election manifesto, whose chapter two, section two reads: “We [Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government] will transform Pakistan by devolving power and decision-making to the people through an empowered local government”.

No concrete steps have, however, been taken to materialise the idea of devolving power to the local level. During its previous tenure in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI government somehow managed to run the governance smoothly by holding elections to local councils. But the party failed to replicate the same at the national level.

Reforms in local governance system are primarily aimed at improving the quality of governance by enabling local people to manage local-level affairs by taking decision and executing policies themselves. But with this major aim comes the essential question: Will local governance reforms be favourable for the poor as envisioned? Well, the question is a hard one to answer, requiring a lot of unpacking of ideas and a thorough analysis of the functioning social and power structures that form the basis of the whole edifice of our society.

A key underlying assumption regarding the local governance system is that it increases the participation of poor and marginalised groups in the decision-making process. It is assumed that it enhances the involvement of local people in improving service delivery at the grassroots level. It is also assumed to enhance the accountability of service providers – i.e. the bearers of government offices – and thereby tackle corruption. Such assumptions, at least in case of Pakistan, seem to be less empirically grounded. If one analyses the social and power structure of the country, the reforms in local governance system and allowing lower tiers of government to form and implement policies seem to be threatened by what is called ‘elite capture’ in the parlance of governance and public policy.

Elite capture refers to a situation where resources – decentralised to the local level for the benefit of people at the grassroots level – are usurped by the locally powerful lot – i.e. the local elite that comprises economically and politically powerful groups. This powerful lot attempts to manoeuvre executive authority to tilt the flow of power and resources towards themselves. Furthermore, the local elite dominate the process and hold control over resources and their distribution, thus keeping the needy away from their due share.

My Feudal Lord by Tehmina Durrani and Frozen Whispers by Salma Iftikhar area among the many books that have well depicted how deeply the feudal culture is embedded in our society and how this feudal culture shapes the local and national political context. These elite – not only comprising feudals but also industrialists and religio-political personalities – nurture the political system as they please. If, in such a milieu, power and resources are decentralised under a myopic approach, it is least likely that poor people will have any proportionate share in such a dispensation of power and resources.

This brings us to the questions: How prepared are our state institutions to thwart the threat of elite capture in the context of reforming the local governance system? Can they manage to keep the elite at bay? What potential solutions do they have to circumvent associated problems?

Realising the idea of local governance reforms may seem pretty easy on paper. But it is as difficult in practice – given the empirical situation as regards social and power structures of our country. It requires due deliberation and a careful action. Any attempt to devolve power from the Centre can otherwise be detrimental if done without taking into account the challenges that may come into play in the real time context.

In sum, the idea of reform in local governance system is fascinating and can be very useful and instrumental in empowering poor and marginalised groups in a society. This ideal can be attained if reforms are made in a way that power is handed over to the poor rather than the elite. It is a huge responsibility that rests on the shoulders of state institutions – legislature, executive, and judiciary – and needs to be dispensed sooner and with caution.