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Why provinces hate local governments
Mohammad Malick
Saturday, June 02, 2012
thenews.com: The Leading The News Site on the Net
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Out of the blue, the Punjab government announced on Thursday its intention to hold local bodies elections. While the decision was a bit unexpected, the omission of an actual timeline wasnt. The latest move appears nothing more then a deft manoeuvre to avoid a legal bind a la Sindh, where the Sindh government has been ordered by the Sindh High Court to hold Local Government (LB) elections within 90 days.
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Taking a cue from their political elders in Islamabad, the Sindh government however has no intentions to honour the orders of the superior judiciary. Word has it that final touches are being given to a proposed law to sanction a six-month transition period preceding the holding of such elections. Even if such a law is brought in, it is bound to be challenged in the SHC, prompting another round of legal wrangling which will consume a few more weeks, if not months. Avoiding implementing court verdicts and buying time, has become the standard modus operandi of both our federal and provincial governments.
*
Punjab has gone a step further. It has smartly tried preempting any judicial intervention through its voluntary announcement of holding elections. Interestingly, while the timing and other critical details of the pronounced intent are missing, the government bureaucracy has simultaneously initiated a move that belies the very spirit of the LG system: bureaucratic hold over local governance essentially the peoples domain. The LG election announcement was coupled with the Punjab governments intent to bring back our bureaucratic lords and masters, the DMG-run office of a deputy commissioner even if under another nomenclature.
*
When it comes to the morality of realpolitik, Constitutional violations matter little; what matters more is the end result. Ignoring the constitutionally mandated LG system in favour of a bureaucrat-run fiefdom has immense tactical advantages especially in an election year.
*
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government had the audacity to amend the CPC, a federal law, to facilitate the revival of the old magistracy system a blatant violation of the laid down principle of separation of executive and judiciary. In this instance, the Peshawar High Court had to step in and declare the action illegal.
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In Balochistan, those in power have even stopped feigning concern over this matter. Taking up the missing persons case in Balochistan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry grilled the provinces chief secretary over the absence of the local government system. He was bang on dot when he said had the local governance system been in place, forget local development, there would have been effective policing and perhaps fewer people would have gone missing.
*
So what is it that the provincial governments so despise about the local government system? Is it the MPA-MNA combine egged on by the bureaucratic behemoth that is so averse to devolution of authority to the grass roots level? Is it about the misuse of billions of rupees that should otherwise, as per law, have been spent by the people on their own development? The answer: its a combination of all of the above, with the silent bureaucracy inflicting the worst damage.
*
For starters, none of the provincial governments want to hold local government polls just before a general election. Unfavourable electoral results threaten to puncture the Teflon coating of perceived impregnability. A string of election disappointments could actually set in motion an irreversible political momentum against the incumbent ruling dispensations.
*
All kinds of ruses have been offered by virtually every provincial capital and the centre to avoid local government elections. Courts have been told, at various times, that work is being done on the local government legislation and hence the inevitable delays. Sure, in Punjab some amendments were indeed brought in post the 18th Amendment but these primarily remained confined to seeking four time period extensions in holding LG polls, ranging from six months to a year at a time. The centre said security was an issue in Islamabad. KPK also went the security route as did Sindh but otherwise, both conveniently also held assembly bye-elections.
*
The excuse of old electoral rolls has also been cited but nobody said a word when the government held nationwide elections for Azad Kashmir on the same inaccurate voter lists. Even the assembly bye-polls in different provinces were held on the same old electoral rolls.
*
So clearly, what is good for the provincial goose is definitely not good for the local government gander.
*
But political power and bureaucratic control is only half the story. Its money, and big money for that matter. Were talking tens of billions of rupees every year. According to a report prepared by The Local Councils Association, with a little tweaking of the rules and procedures, billions of rupees of local government funds are being blown away with impunity by the provincial governments.
*
According to this study of Local Finance in Pre and Post 18thAmendment and Seventh NFC Award, the Punjab government alone gobbled up Rs119 billion of local government funds, Sindh anywhere around Rs61 billion, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs26 billion. Simply put, between them the three provincial governments have eaten up over Rs206 billion of local government funds money that locally elected peoples representatives should have spent on local development based on local priorities. Instead, these billions were spent by provincial leaders through their hand-picked bureaucrats.
*
Little wonder there is nothing tangible to show on the ground. The official theft in Balochistan cannot be revealed because due to the supersession of BLOG 2001 by the Balochistan Local Government Act 2010, provisions relating to appropriation of funds to local governments under the Provincial Finance Commission Award discontinued in the provincial budgets.
*
At least now you know where the money is coming for politically motivated schemes like laptops, Ashiana housing, yellow cabs etc. In all fairness, any elected government has a right to initiate such public welfare schemes but it must do so from its own legal resources and not by usurping those of other constitutional bodies. Democracy does not stop with devolution of power from the Centre to the provinces but must go right down to the grass roots level. Unfortunately, post the 18th Amendment, the provincial capitals are meting out the same treatment to the local governments that they once accused the Centre of sending their way.
*
Ironically, nobody is opposing the local government system per se but neither is there any official or political willingness to let it see the light of the day. The chairman National Movement to Restore Local Government, Danyal Aziz, puts it succinctly when he says, Because all parties passed the 18th Amendment they know local government is the cure but they are like a doctor who is deliberately giving the wrong injection to 180 million people for selfish reasons.
*
There are no two opinions about the collective wisdom of people being the soul of true democracy. But is this wisdom confined to the constituencies of the national and provincial legislatures? If the people are wise enough to choose their leadership at those levels, then arent the same people sensible enough to elect those from amongst themselves to deal with their local issues and development?
*
The writer is editor The News, Islamabad. Email: mohammad.malick1 ***********
*
*
*
Mohammad Malick
Saturday, June 02, 2012
thenews.com: The Leading The News Site on the Net
*
*
Out of the blue, the Punjab government announced on Thursday its intention to hold local bodies elections. While the decision was a bit unexpected, the omission of an actual timeline wasnt. The latest move appears nothing more then a deft manoeuvre to avoid a legal bind a la Sindh, where the Sindh government has been ordered by the Sindh High Court to hold Local Government (LB) elections within 90 days.
*
Taking a cue from their political elders in Islamabad, the Sindh government however has no intentions to honour the orders of the superior judiciary. Word has it that final touches are being given to a proposed law to sanction a six-month transition period preceding the holding of such elections. Even if such a law is brought in, it is bound to be challenged in the SHC, prompting another round of legal wrangling which will consume a few more weeks, if not months. Avoiding implementing court verdicts and buying time, has become the standard modus operandi of both our federal and provincial governments.
*
Punjab has gone a step further. It has smartly tried preempting any judicial intervention through its voluntary announcement of holding elections. Interestingly, while the timing and other critical details of the pronounced intent are missing, the government bureaucracy has simultaneously initiated a move that belies the very spirit of the LG system: bureaucratic hold over local governance essentially the peoples domain. The LG election announcement was coupled with the Punjab governments intent to bring back our bureaucratic lords and masters, the DMG-run office of a deputy commissioner even if under another nomenclature.
*
When it comes to the morality of realpolitik, Constitutional violations matter little; what matters more is the end result. Ignoring the constitutionally mandated LG system in favour of a bureaucrat-run fiefdom has immense tactical advantages especially in an election year.
*
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government had the audacity to amend the CPC, a federal law, to facilitate the revival of the old magistracy system a blatant violation of the laid down principle of separation of executive and judiciary. In this instance, the Peshawar High Court had to step in and declare the action illegal.
*
In Balochistan, those in power have even stopped feigning concern over this matter. Taking up the missing persons case in Balochistan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry grilled the provinces chief secretary over the absence of the local government system. He was bang on dot when he said had the local governance system been in place, forget local development, there would have been effective policing and perhaps fewer people would have gone missing.
*
So what is it that the provincial governments so despise about the local government system? Is it the MPA-MNA combine egged on by the bureaucratic behemoth that is so averse to devolution of authority to the grass roots level? Is it about the misuse of billions of rupees that should otherwise, as per law, have been spent by the people on their own development? The answer: its a combination of all of the above, with the silent bureaucracy inflicting the worst damage.
*
For starters, none of the provincial governments want to hold local government polls just before a general election. Unfavourable electoral results threaten to puncture the Teflon coating of perceived impregnability. A string of election disappointments could actually set in motion an irreversible political momentum against the incumbent ruling dispensations.
*
All kinds of ruses have been offered by virtually every provincial capital and the centre to avoid local government elections. Courts have been told, at various times, that work is being done on the local government legislation and hence the inevitable delays. Sure, in Punjab some amendments were indeed brought in post the 18th Amendment but these primarily remained confined to seeking four time period extensions in holding LG polls, ranging from six months to a year at a time. The centre said security was an issue in Islamabad. KPK also went the security route as did Sindh but otherwise, both conveniently also held assembly bye-elections.
*
The excuse of old electoral rolls has also been cited but nobody said a word when the government held nationwide elections for Azad Kashmir on the same inaccurate voter lists. Even the assembly bye-polls in different provinces were held on the same old electoral rolls.
*
So clearly, what is good for the provincial goose is definitely not good for the local government gander.
*
But political power and bureaucratic control is only half the story. Its money, and big money for that matter. Were talking tens of billions of rupees every year. According to a report prepared by The Local Councils Association, with a little tweaking of the rules and procedures, billions of rupees of local government funds are being blown away with impunity by the provincial governments.
*
According to this study of Local Finance in Pre and Post 18thAmendment and Seventh NFC Award, the Punjab government alone gobbled up Rs119 billion of local government funds, Sindh anywhere around Rs61 billion, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs26 billion. Simply put, between them the three provincial governments have eaten up over Rs206 billion of local government funds money that locally elected peoples representatives should have spent on local development based on local priorities. Instead, these billions were spent by provincial leaders through their hand-picked bureaucrats.
*
Little wonder there is nothing tangible to show on the ground. The official theft in Balochistan cannot be revealed because due to the supersession of BLOG 2001 by the Balochistan Local Government Act 2010, provisions relating to appropriation of funds to local governments under the Provincial Finance Commission Award discontinued in the provincial budgets.
*
At least now you know where the money is coming for politically motivated schemes like laptops, Ashiana housing, yellow cabs etc. In all fairness, any elected government has a right to initiate such public welfare schemes but it must do so from its own legal resources and not by usurping those of other constitutional bodies. Democracy does not stop with devolution of power from the Centre to the provinces but must go right down to the grass roots level. Unfortunately, post the 18th Amendment, the provincial capitals are meting out the same treatment to the local governments that they once accused the Centre of sending their way.
*
Ironically, nobody is opposing the local government system per se but neither is there any official or political willingness to let it see the light of the day. The chairman National Movement to Restore Local Government, Danyal Aziz, puts it succinctly when he says, Because all parties passed the 18th Amendment they know local government is the cure but they are like a doctor who is deliberately giving the wrong injection to 180 million people for selfish reasons.
*
There are no two opinions about the collective wisdom of people being the soul of true democracy. But is this wisdom confined to the constituencies of the national and provincial legislatures? If the people are wise enough to choose their leadership at those levels, then arent the same people sensible enough to elect those from amongst themselves to deal with their local issues and development?
*
The writer is editor The News, Islamabad. Email: mohammad.malick1 ***********
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