Talkin’ about devolution: Conference on local govt ends in acrimony

ANP leader leaves podium after interruption from PTI MPA

PESHAWAR:

Awami National Party leader Himayatullah Mayar stepped down from the podium and left Thursday’s Local Government Conference in protest following interruption from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Dina Naz.

Organised at a local hotel, the event aimed to discuss the effectiveness of the local bodies system. During his address, Mayar said the LG Act 2013 violates Article 148 of the Constitution and will lead to a rigid dichotomy of control between the deputy commissioner and LG representatives.



“The system intends to devolve power to the grass-root level but the powers conferred upon the chief minister to intervene will harm the process,” he maintained. This irked the MPA from the ruling party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), who said discussing the chief minister is not on the conference’s agenda. Not happy at the MPA’s intervention, Mayar stepped down from the podium and left the conference hall.

During his address, a member of the act’s working committee, Dr Iqbal Khalil, said the draft encompasses viewpoints from across the political spectrum and will benefit everyone. “Polls of tehsil and district councils will be held on party basis while those of villages and neighbourhood councils will be non-party based.”

About possible reasons for the apex court’s intervention in the said matter, social worker Mukhtar Javed said most of the promises made by political forces have been forgotten, forcing the judiciary to intercede.

Javed said a recent report on the progress over United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals brought to the fore loopholes in Pakistan’s health and education sectors.

“A lack of foresight in governments gives birth to long-term problems for the people,” he said, adding the LG system in K-P is far more efficient as compared to that in other provinces. The activist also demanded an increase in the quota of seats for women.

Bureaucratic procedures

Rehmat Ghazi, a former employee of the local government department and member of the working group, said the suggestion of electing district nazims directly was rejected by the bureaucratic bigwigs.

“Legislatures and bureaucratic procedures are the anti-thesis of the local government system,” he said, adding senators and parliamentarians will have to play an active role with education, health, police officials and patwaris or else the entire system will come apart. Ghazi maintained that the local government system is the cornerstone of development.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2015.