Empowering the people: Call for effective local govt system in capital

Speakers highlight flaws in act, suggest changes.

ISLAMABAD:

Speakers at a workshop on Thursday unanimously called for the introduction of the local government system in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), despite all its flaws.

At the event, “Citizens’ Engagement and Accountability for an Effective Local Government System,” participants called for  implementation of Article140-A, under the 18th Amendment. The government should also announce an early date for holding local government elections in the country including the capital to empower urban and rural residents of ICT.

Barister Shahzad Akber said the ICT Local Government Bill 2013 had been formulated in haste.  “It’s strange that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan approved the draft after the chief commissioner gave him a presentation.” When the bureaucracy authors local government (LG) acts, it is always without consulting political parties, civil society and the general public, he added.

Pointing out a few deficiencies, he said the mayor of ICT would have no control over the Capital Development Authority and any person caught rigging in the LG elections would be set free after payment of a Rs2,000 fine.

Azhar Bashir Malik, chief coordinating officer of Devolution Trust, presented a few demands from ordinary citizens in Punjab and K-P. He highlighted the need to increase the number of women’s seats at all tiers of the LG system and revival of union councils in the new act for K-P.The Election Commission should return the contestants’ fee in case of postponement or delay in LG elections, he added.

Another participant, Kanwar Dilshad was of the view that a biometric voting system should be introduced through amenmdments in the law. He criticised the faws in the ICT LG act, saying it should be debated in Parliament.

Shaukat Paracha, a senior journalist said that there was a thin line between military dictators and civil dictators. Military dictators reach out to the people by bypassing national and provincial politicians, whereas civil dictators do not want to devolve powers to grass-roots democratic structures.

Ali Mohammad Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said development work was not the responsibility of a parliamentarian and the PTI government was working hard to introduce transparent systems and structures before starting major development work in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2014.