ISLAMABAD: Vowing for collective action to revive Local Government
system, experts, politicians and civil society organisations have
demanded immediate holding of Local Government elections. All have
termed it as the constitutional responsibility of provinces under
article 32 and 140(a), to establish elected local governments and
devolve political, financial and administrative responsibilities to
local government representatives.
They have also recommended
creating awareness and campaigning to ensure political mobilization and
time bound framework for LG elections, extension of LG system to all
cantonments with elected heads and clear demarcation of function with
provinces. All these matters were agreed in a national roundtable
consultation on "Elected Local Government: Revival and Reforms" jointly
organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), SANGAT
Foundation and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) here on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Senator Haji Adeel Ahmad said that ANP
supported local bodies but opposed Local Government system of 2001,
which violated the provincial autonomy.
He termed it as quiet
unfortunate that political parties were unable to pass Local Government
Bill in provinces despite promises made to people in general elections.
He also informed that LG bill, already tabled in the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, would be passed very soon, and also He suggested
further debates on provincial level to pave the way for swift
legislation and implementation of the system. Speaking on the
occasion Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said that every dictator
started off with local government system while mainstream political
parties tended to ignore it.
While referring to resource
generation he said that no district in Balochistan (except Quetta to
some extent) is able to generate resource on its own, and demanded that
Provincial Finance Commission Award must be implemented immediately. He
also lamented that MNAs and MPAs were performing tasks that fell under
the jurisdiction of local governments. The PPP MNA and Chairperson of
NCHD Nafisa Shah said that provinces need to be sensitised for
legislation on local government system. She criticized the 2001/05
local government system for being a complicated one, for having three
tiers at local level, being against constitution, its failure to
overlook rural urban divide and had violated provincial autonomy.
she
said that political parties, , supported local bodies as they provide
breeding ground for them and they also they have to decide now , as to
which form of system they must adopt. Daniyal Aziz, Advisor,
Governance Institutes Network International discussed constitutional
issues and highlighted the current status of local governments in the
provinces. He was of the view that political elite did not want any
competitors in form of local government system, fearing the loss of
political patronage and relative political, financial and
administrative powers. Kaiser Bengali, Former Advisor Government of
Sindh said that local government system of 2001 was deliberately
designed to serve vested interests, severely damaging state
institutions.
He elaborated that it was designed to counter
politicians, political parties and provincial autonomy. He also said
that the size of devolved unit should have been proportionate with
functions. He proposed setting divisions as basic unit for devolution.
There is need to combine 1979 and 2001-5 local government order and
based upon the merits minus the shortcomings, to draft an efficient
local govt system, he added Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director,
SDPI, deliberated that local governance was a process, which has to be
continued for positive change within the society. He said that one
system might not suit all provinces, so provinces needs to work on
refining their systems by defining agreements and disagreements. Anja
Minaret, Resident Representative of FES, called for collect action plan
for revival of local government system in Pakistan and said that there
is efficient local governance system in Germany on principle of
subsidiary. Pakistan should also reintroduce the local governance
system, which is the essence of democracy, she went on saying. Zahid
Islam of SANGAT Foundation highlighted some of the achievements of 2001
Local Government system that included mobilisation of marginalized
section of society such as women, peasants and workers and advocacy of
basic rights. He also presented some suggestion to remove shortcoming
in the system. Raza Rumi, International Development Expert/ADB,
Sarwar Bari, Executive Director, Pattan, Mr. Asif Hasnian, MNA, MQM,
Mr. Zafar Ullah, Executive Director, Centre for Civic Education and
eminent lawyers Babar Sattar and Majid Bashir also attended and spoke
at the event. Online
