Puppets on provincial strings

The good news is that for the first time ever in Pakistan’s political history, elected provincial governments have begun conducting local government polls and that too on a party basis. Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have already completed the exercise while Punjab and Sindh are about to hold the second phase of their respective local government polls. But the not-so-good news is: the laws under which these governments are being ushered in render the elected local bodies largely subservient to the respective provincial governments. The feudal mindset of the political leadership and the colonial approach of the civil bureaucracy appear to have joined hands to deny a hiccup-free devolution of powers to the grass root governments in the true spirit of federalism.



The quantum of autonomy that the 18^th Constitutional Amendment devolves to provinces has been continuously denied, even after the lapse of several years since the amendment was passed. Similarly, the provinces seem extremely reluctant to devolve the quantum of autonomy envisaged in the 18^th Amendment to the third tier of the government. Predictably, there is no uniformity in the four local government acts as each province has seemingly framed relevant laws that suit its own purpose — perceived peculiar political circumstances. None of the acts devolve sufficient functions and powers to the local governments, and all four provincial governments have retained the authority to suspend or remove the heads of an elected local government.

The functioning of the Local Government Fund is to be managed by the provincial finance departments and finance ministers. The local government acts of Punjab, Sindh and K-P allow for discretion by the provincial government to change, exclude, include and redesign a constituency which, it is feared, would make it easy for the provincial government of the day to indulge in gerrymandering. All four local government acts provide for the establishment of Provincial Finance Commissions, headed by the provincial finance ministers. The local councils would receive allocations through the respective Provincial Finance Commission Awards, and would have limited powers to impose taxes or exercise regulatory functions.

While all four acts devolve the key service delivery functions to local governments, provinces have made exceptions to retain large entities, such as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the Sindh Building Control Authority and the Lahore Development Authority. In addition, the local government act of Punjab provides for the creation of education and health authorities, comprising members from the provincial government, local governments, technocrats and the private sector. The chief minister will be the appointing authority and can dismiss the heads of the authority or dissolve the authorities.

The local government laws for each province, in their current form, provide limited autonomy to the local councils in terms of fiscal management and control over service delivery, revenue, tax and police departments. Indeed, in their present form, the third tier governments appear no more than puppets on provincial strings. If these local governments are to have any real meaning and effectiveness, the provincial governments will need to ensure that they have sufficient resources and authority to address service delivery and development challenges in local communities. In times of natural calamities like earthquakes or man-made disasters like the recent collapse of a four-storey building in Lahore, it is the local governments which should have the capacities and wherewithal to immediately set up rescue, relief and rehabilitation activities. For a strong federation to work, the provincial assemblies must recognise that autonomous local governments are essential for improved governance and service delivery and for this they must enact laws that better clarify the division of power and functions between the provincial and local governments. The federal government should explore supporting inter-provincial coordination and experience-sharing mechanisms to define guiding principles for local government reform. Hopefully, over time the local government acts will evolve in such a way as to genuinely empower democratic institutions at the grass roots.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2015.

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