Cash-strapped local govt system fails to deliver

Citizens’ grievances remain unaddressed due to a paucity of funding for elected representatives

PESHAWAR:

For locals of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa sick and tired of contesting parties’ recurring list of empty promises, the announcement of the local government system brought a sigh of relief, signalling some hope for improvement in their everyday lives. Unfortunately, however, the wave of optimism could not survive long enough, since a shortage of funding prevented elected representatives from resolving the day-to-day issues faced by the locals.

Despite the initiation of the local government system in K-P almost two and a half years ago in which PTI secured a majority, the elected representatives have not received a single rupee worth of funding due to which they have not been able to resolve even the tiniest of problems faced by the locals, who are tired of visiting the offices of their leaders only to be told that there are no funds available.

Surriya Bibi, a local from the Pukha Ghulam village told the Express Tribune that from 2015 to 2019, local government representatives provided sewing machines to the women of her village, enabling them to earn a living by sewing clothes from their homes. “Now that dozens of women in the village have learned sewing, due to a lack of funds, the representatives are not visiting the village to give them tailoring jobs. Moreover, the women councillors who were elected from our area have not returned since then and remain confined to their homes,” said Surriya.

“The local government system in K-P and nearby tribal areas has completely failed. For 131 tehsils and 4,212 village and neighbourhood councils in the province, there are approximately 29,000 local representatives, yet all of them are deprived of funds. When they are not even receiving money for their office rent, how can they provide facilities like clean water, sanitation, and electricity to the citizens?” wondered Intizar Khaliq, a member of the Metropolitan City District Government Peshawar.

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Khaliq’s assertion was supported by sources which claimed that as a result of the non-payment of rent, the offices of many local representatives in districts like Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Hangu, and Charsadda, had closed down and the locals were left on their own for resolving their issues.

This is evident is a recent incident where a transformer in the Nasirpur area of Peshawar was damaged, leaving 47,000 people without electricity for seven days. Since no local representatives were available for assistance, the local residents had to collect donations from the community to repair the transformer and restore electricity. Similarly, in the Bilal Town area of Peshawar, locals had to collect donations to restore open drains which were endangering the lives of their children. In addition to being deprived of basic facilities, the citizens are also facing severe difficulties in obtaining birth, death, and marriage certificates, among other documents from the local government.

In this regard, the Local Council Association Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, led by Chairman Hafizullah Maayar, has presented an 11-point charter of demands to the provincial government, which includes strengthening of the local government system and the disbursement of development funds to the representatives. “A meeting between the Chief Minister and local government representatives is expected soon, during which the approval of development funds for tehsil and neighbourhood council representatives will be discussed,” disclosed Maayar.

Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, the Provincial Minister for the Local Government, Arshad Ayub said, “A special package will be included in the upcoming budget to provide funds to local government representatives. Efforts will also be made to amend the Local Bodies Act to make it more effective, enabling local governments to resolve issues at the grassroots level without any discrimination.”