Local government important: US speaker

KARACHI: “Local government officials are more visible to citizens in their area and they help build trust,” said former mayor and United Stated speaker Teresa Issac on Friday.

She was giving a lecture on “Federalism: Lessons from American Experience” at the Marriott hotel.

Sitting at a roundtable with journalists, she explained how federalism works in the United States and how, even though “it wasn’t perfect,” people could learn from it.

“Citizens feel closer to the local government than the state or federal government” because they know that it is the body which gives them their services, Issac said. Commenting on the federal structure of Pakistan, Issac said, “I have observed that it is evolving.”  She added that the media has a huge role to play in ensuring transparency in governance.

Issac was a former mayor of Lexington, Kentucky and became popular for helping to increased policemen’s salaries, firefighters and corrections personnel. She also implemented budget cuts to many areas of the government, including significant cuts to her own office’s budget.

Isaac has received numerous national, state and local honours. In 1996, she was one of the six American elected officials chosen to monitor the first Palestinian elections. In February 2007, Isaac participated in the US - Islamic World Forum, sponsored by the Brookings Institute, in Doha. Later that year, the State Department sent her to Namibia. In April, 2007, Isaac was presented the Halaby Award for Public Service, at the Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards gala in Washington DC.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.