TNS – The News on Sunday

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Because local governments have always worked strictly along provincial lines, whenever a military government came in power, it legitimised its existence by bypassing the provincial level where political parties have always been stronger, and institutionalised local governments instead. And the tug of war went on whenever a military government left or was ousted by political opposition. The political party would again change the power dynamics by taking power from local governments and handing it back to the provinces. 2010 was a turning point for Pakistan because under the 18^th Amendment, the constitution made it mandatory for provincial governments to set up local government systems, finally giving them constitutional protection. In 2013, all provincial governments came up with their own local government acts, with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government under Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) being the only one to devolve significant administrative authorities to the local bodies. On the contrary, local government in Punjab lacked independence and autonomy and the act reasserted their subordinate status in front of the provincial government. With PTI emerging as the ruling party in 2018 general elections and forming governments in Punjab and KP, it now finds itself in an interesting position where the party has declared its will to empower local governments by bringing in a new local government system in Punjab, one similar to that of KP. The currently elected local bodies all belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), which makes it difficult for PTI to empower the opposition. With questions being raised in regards to the motivations behind PTI doing so, and how autonomous the local governments will actually become, experts say that PTI cannot bring in a new system unless it opts for a re-election. “We have formed a committee in Punjab, including 11 mayors and 36 district council chairmen and a few lawyers,” says Rana Sanaullah, PML-N leader and member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. “The committee is keeping an eye on PTI. If they declare a re-election, we will take it to court.” The former law minister Punjab says when the currently elected local government received votes, they received them to be elected for five years. So while the provincial government can change the system or amend it, as it likes, it cannot break its tenure. “This will be a violation of Article 140A,” he adds. Article 140A of the Constitution, brought in by the 18^th Amendment, states that each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments and that the Election Commission of Pakistan shall hold these elections. [box type="shadow" align="alignright" class="red_lines" ]The 2001 local government ordinance gave significant powers to the local bodies during General Musharraf’s era. In 2013, when that system was scrapped and the provinces released new acts in Punjab and Sindh, the provincial governments rolled back their powers significantly.[/box] According to Syed Ali Zafar, Advocate Supreme Court and former caretaker Federal Law Minister, the constitution empowers the PTI to establish a local bodies system through the provincial assembly and if they choose to have a re-election, they can do that as well. “They will have to do that by making a new law and under that law they can state that we now dissolve the local government and will have fresh elections,” he says. “There is no constitutional provision that stops them from doing so.” The constitution provides a complete framework for the national and provincial assemblies regarding how they are to come into existence and how they are to finish, so their tenure cannot be changed by creating new laws but such is not the case with local governments. While PML-N will fail to have a strong case in court, according to Advocate Zafar, “if the provincial governments continue to have the authority to dissolve local bodies, they will always stay subordinate.” He adds that a law should be provided to the effect that once elected they would have to complete their tenure. While the PML-N is strongly opposing the possibilities of a re-election, when it was the ruling party in Punjab, the provincial government retained almost all power and authority. According to Safiya Aftab, an economic and policy analyst based in Islamabad, the 2001 local government ordinance gave significant powers to the local bodies during General Musharraf’s era. In 2013, when that system was scrapped and the provinces released new acts in Punjab and Sindh, the provincial governments rolled back their powers significantly. “Health and educational which were significant works of the local governments under the 2001 ordinance are now run by District Health Authorities in Punjab, which are unelected bodies.” Analysing the motivations behind PTI bringing in a new local government system, Umair Javed, a political analyst based in Lahore, says it would help PTI in more than one way. “There is an ideational component to it that Imran Khan genuinely believes that local governments need to be instituted and strengthened.” But at the time if PTI wants to consolidate its power and strengthen the party in the province, which has been otherwise ruled for 10 years by PML-N, it makes sense for them to dissolve the current system and make gains on the fact that PTI is now the incumbent provincial government, he explains. “So it’s a way of strengthening their government by eliminating the opposition from the seats that they currently hold.” He further adds that if the government was solely interested in empowering local bodies, PTI could have let them finish their term and given them a few more resources, re-institutionalising them from the next term. “But right now because the local government consists only of PML-N, it would be impossible for PTI to give them any more authority or power. They would face a lot of opposition from within the party itself,” he says. PTI has said that the new local government system will be similar to the one in KP, but while the law itself was better in the province in allocating greater authority to local governments, it did run into issues. According to Javed, PTI did want to devolve more financing as administrative powers but they were constrained by not having sufficient bureaucratic capacity. Secondly, the province hasn’t performed well in regards of raising its own revenues, which caused them to remain in a financial crunch. “So even though they promised they would devolve 40 per cent of the Annual Development Plan to the local governments,” he says, “I don’t think they were able to make the disbursements in any of the years in the previous term.” Keeping in mind the equation between local governments, military regimes and political parties in Pakistan, Ammar Rashid, a researcher of development and public policy, said that Pakistan now has an opportunity to have a genuine local government system because there has been a democratic government for 10 years. “For that we need to make the district governments autonomous, do away with the provincial government’s power to dismiss local governments and do actual financial decentralisation by giving 50 per cent of the development funds to the district governments,” says Rashid, who is also a member of the Awami Workers Party. “Another thing PTI can do is to make sure that a Provincial Finance Commission becomes a legal obligation of the government,” says Javed. “The commission would then make decisions based on both need and population and all other factors that come under any finance commissioner’s jurisdiction, making sure that governments have enough fiscal space and autonomy to perform better.” Read also: “The benchmark is Article 140A and Article 32” While PTI prepares to shape a new law for the local government system, if it truly wants to empower it, the party needs to clearly delineate the administrative responsibilities of the province. If the law states that health and education, municipal development, water and sanitation, urban planning, solid waste management are all the responsibilities of the local government and not the provincial government, together with an adequate fiscal space, their party would be heading in the right direction. Unless such provisions are added, it would be another attempt at strengthening party roots, as seen before in democratic governments, instead of an effort to make local governments autonomous. And while it brings in a new system, and even if it declares a re-election in Punjab, it is legally free to do so. Abdul Aleem Khan, Provincial Minister of Punjab for Local Government and Community Development, was reached out to multiple times but did not respond. [post_title] => A new local government system? 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The News on Sunday: What is Article 140A and why are provincial governments so reluctant to devolve power to the local level?

Salman Abid: Article 140A of the Constitution says that all governments are bound to devolve administrative, financial, and political powers from the federal to the provincial and from the provincial to the local governments, maintain the continuity of the elections and devolve powers to elected people from non-elected ones, i e., bureaucracy. Article 32 of the Constitution ensures the participation of marginalised groups, such as women, minorities, peasants and labour in the local government elections. In the same way, Article 10 of the Charter of Democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in London, says when governments will come into power they will ensure a strong local government system under Article 140A. They didn’t call it local body but “local government”. So, whosoever talks about policy making on this issue, the benchmark for us is Article 140A and Article 32 of the Constitution. If we are violating these laws that means we are trying to bring in a system that suits the vested interests of the provincial governments, and none of them want to give up power. TNS: How do we ensure accountability in the local government system? Were the local governments that have been in place so far accountable and transparent? SA: During the early part of the General Musharraf era, after the local body elections in 2000, the local government system was working somewhat better and power was devolved to the lower tiers. But after the 2002 elections powers of the local government were gradually taken back. All the four local government systems that we have in place right now negate Article 140A and do not completely address its principles. Having said that, of the four examples that we have in our provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a better local government system in place. In Punjab, they managed to capture all powers of the local government by making various authorities and task forces. The Sindh and Balochistan governments had more or less the same approach. TNS: How high are the stakes in Punjab which has a majority of PML-N office holders in this third tier right now? SA: The PML-N wants its local government in Punjab to complete tenure and have elections in 2019 or 2020, because they have their power at the grass root level intact. On the other hand, the PTI understands that they cannot fully and successfully operate at the local level with the PML-N local government in place. The PTI also believes that the local government system in Punjab is not empowered adequately. At this point, there is also a clash between the two parties in the Punjab Assembly as PML-N has a considerable presence there as well. That will make legislation very difficult for the PTI. They will face a strong opposition. Provincial governments can make new laws about the local government and they can amend the existing laws. Now the main issue before the PTI is whether abolishing the local government system in Punjab will create a legal problem for them? Will it be challenged in the courts? What if the courts rule against it? The other option is that the system is left to work as it is and local government elections are held next year. And in the meanwhile, the provincial government exercises all the powers of the local government. So, we can see that the main battle is in Punjab as there is a clash between the PML-N and PTI there. As things stand, local government’s elected representatives are not happy because, as we know, elections were held in 2015, they took oath a year later in 2016, but were not given any powers. So, these 0.1 million local government representatives, from chairman to councillors at the district, tehsil and village level, will make a lobby and create problems for the Punjab government. TNS: What improvements can be brought into the system? SA: Pakistan decided in favour of decentralisation in the shape of the 18^th Amendment whereby powers have been devolved from the centre to the provinces and from the provinces to the local governments. Still, our whole governance model is based on a centralised system of governance. The provincial governments have a lot of responsibility in this matter. The second problem relates to legislation. The local government law says that federal and provincial governments will legislate while the development works will be expedited through the local governments. The situation on the ground is that the federal government, the MNAs, MPAs and even Senators want to have a say in development work. There is an institutional clash between the two. So, today I think the provincial governments are the real hindrance in the way of realising an efficient local government system. TNS: Do you see the status quo changing? SA: Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that he will not give development funds to MNAs and MPAs and that the funds will be spent through the local government. If that happens, there is a strong possibility that the local government system will start working. Otherwise, things will remain the same in the presence of parallel authorities and task forces and a powerful bureaucracy. We can see a clash between the elected people and bureaucracy. During the Musharraf era, the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) of District Police Officers (DPOs) and District Coordination Officers (DCOs) were written by the District Nazim. Then chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif reversed that with what we call the commisionerate or DPO system. Also, there is still only about 15 per cent participation of women while the law says it should be 33 per cent. There should be a mechanism of fair representation of labour as well. It has to be seen if they develop a strong local government system or a strong bureaucracy. Just like 58-2b, the chief minister of a province has the power to dissolve the local government under any excuse. The provincial local government commissions introduced by Musharraf to address local-provincial issues were also dissolved by the provinces. Provincial finance commissions should take districts into account. Ironically, we have our “Takhte-e-Lahore” and all other districts have been ignored. No budget has been allocated for districts in the PFC. Although it is a provincial subject after the 18^th Amendment, the provincial governments delayed local government elections so much so that the last local government elections were held on the order of the Supreme Court. In my view, the federal government should have a say in this: The federal government should see if the legislation done by the provincial governments on local government system addresses Article 140A. Secondly, do the provincial governments ensure timely elections? So the federal government should make a framework in this regard and give to the provincial governments. TNS: How do you evaluate the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government? SA: We have a good example of KPK local government. For instance, it allocated 30 per cent of its total development budget to their local government. This is a huge step in the right direction. It would be a very good step, as Prime Minister Imran Khan said, if the same local government system is introduced in Punjab. But then the problem is that we have district and tehsil level elections on party basis while village council’s elections are conducted on non-party basis. The same is the case in KP. We know that non-party elections strengthen ‘’baradrism’’. Direct election of district nazim should be applauded though. It will end horse-trading. Prime Minister Imran Khan has admitted that the local government system in KP has a few issues to be addressed. So the KPK government has formed a committee comprising of chief secretary and secretary local government. They have to address flaws in the existing local government system and introduce the same in Punjab. We have to see what that system is. But the power of the CM to dissolve the local government will continue creating problems. TNS: How do you look at Sindh, especially Karachi and Hyderabad? SA: In Sindh, the urban population and rural population see this issue differently. The tug of war for power between the two continues. The PPP doesn’t have a problem with the local government system in the interior Sindh; It has a problem in Karachi though where the MQM gave it a tough time. It is in this backdrop that Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked the Sindh chief minister recently in a meeting to address these concerns. Bilawal Bhutto has also formed a committee in the chairmanship of Sindh chief minister to look into these issues. We have to see if the Sindh province brings in some amendments into the laws or not. I hope Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s stern instructions in Sindh will address the concerns of the urban population about local government system. Read also: The Punjab factor  TNS: How can local governments play a role in improving governance in Balochistan? SA: Of the four provinces, Balochistan has the weakest local body system. They are still following the Zia’s system of 1979. If we want to address the governance issues in Balochistan the politics of deprivation, the anger of the Baloch, and improve poor social and economic indicators, we have to strengthen the local government there. PTI is a coalition partner in the Balochistan government and it seems the chief minister, Jam Kamal Khan, is fully cooperating with the PTI on this. That may resolve the basic issues of the people of Balochistan. [post_title] => “The benchmark is Article 140A and Article 32” [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => benchmark-article-140a-article-32 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-10-14 00:44:34 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-13 19:44:34 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=89519 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 89517 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2018-10-14 03:22:00 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:22:00 [post_content] => Recommendations for the new local bodies’ system have been finalised by the Punjab Ministry of Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD). The current local bodies’ system in Punjab was established under the Local Government Act, 2013. Called the third tier of administration, local government is protected by the constitution and facilitated by legislation in the provinces. More than 58,000 candidates in Punjab were elected in the local bodies’ election held in 2015. However, all elected council members and mayors are dissatisfied for not being empowered under the said law. Even the local projects in big cities, such as Lahore, were being controlled by companies established by the former Punjab government. Under the finalised recommendations of the PTI government, “Mayor and deputy mayor would be elected directly and on party basis, 30 per cent development budget would be given to local bodies’ institutions, city mayor would manage municipal, health and education departments, and fresh delimitations would be done in the province before new local bodies’ election”. Like the local government system of 2001, the powers of over 20 departments will be transferred to district governments. Besides, the new system is being designed to give powers to executive magistrates to enforce laws to handle encroachment, recovery of municipal taxes and bills, and profiteering. The Punjab government wants to introduce this new system in the first quarter of 2019. Senior Minister Punjab and the Minister of LG&CD, Aleem Khan, claims that the new system would be flawless and unique. “The Punjab government and the concerned ministry have completed the task assigned by the Prime Minister Imran Khan. After the approval by the Prime Minister, the new law would be presented in the assembly for final approval,” he says, talking to TNS. At present, an overwhelming majority of mayors and local council members in Punjab belong to the PML-N. Chairmen of 32 out of 36 districts belong to PML-N. Three options are under consideration of the government to implement the new system. First, to amend the current local bodies’ system and empower it with new recommendations. Second, to hold election after abolishing the current system. And, lastly, to suspend the finances of local bodies’ institutions till the completion of their tenure. The Punjab government has taken the last step as first by suspending all the funds of general councilors, mayors and district chairmen. This policy has panicked representatives of local bodies. They have decided to resist government’s policy of putting off funds and the expected step of abolishing the current system before time. Different groups of local bodies’ representatives have started conducting meetings to chalk out steps to resist government’s policy. “The steps the PTI government is taking against local bodies’ elected representatives prove its conformist and anti-change approach. The policy to halt funds clearly indicates the intentions of the government,” says Pir Ghulam Mohyuddin Chishti, district chairman Vehari. “Ninety nine per cent of representatives do not want elections before time, therefore, we will resist at all levels if the government tries to abolish the present system and goes for new local bodies’ election,” he adds. “The government can turn the present system into a productive one by empowering local bodies’ institutions. The PTI can set a precedent by taking such steps for the upcoming governments,” he adds. Besides, representatives of local bodies express serious concerns about the PTI government not holding local government elections if it abolishes the present one. “The practice of taking U-turn can be manueuvered by the same bureaucracy that did not let PML-N’s government bring local bodies’ system back in place for seven years,” says Qalandar Shah, district chairman Bahawalnagar. “The bureaucracy always wants to keep all funds and power under their control,” he says. “Non-political elements always desire to have an upper hand. The bureaucracy has always resisted whenever preceding governments have decided to give public representatives authority over civil servants, complete control on funds and to write an ACR (Annual Confidential Report)”, he adds. The Punjab government is committed to conducting the direct election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The mayors shall be elected directly with the entire district as the Electoral College and not the House, considering they may be in a position to deliver better. Direct election means a candidate for the office of Mayor will cover the whole district. Hafizabad district, with the population of 1.1 million, is the only district in Punjab which has one MNA (member of national assembly) and two MPAs (members of provincial assembly). Normally, many districts have two MNA and four or five MPA seats. Sargodha and Bahawalnagar have 5 MNA and 10 MPA seats each, Sialkot 5 MNA and 11 MPA seats, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan 6 MNA and 13 MPA seats, Gujranwala 6 MNA and 14 MPA seats, Rawalpindi 7 MNA and 15 MPA seats, Faisalabad 10 MNA and 22 MPA seats, Lahore 14 MNA and 30 MPA seats. Direct election to the office of Mayor and Deputy Mayor is a costly proposition, “The system PTI wants to introduce is not for the middle or lower middle class. It is for the elite class. The government is, in fact, going to facilitate the ruling elite which couldn’t become part of the current parliamentary system,” says Engineer Muhammad Raza Sargaana,” district chairman, Khanewal. The PML-N has dismissed the current recommendations presented by the Punjab government through the media. A meeting of senior officials was chaired by Hamza Shahbaz, the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly. They have announced to counter these recommendations in the streets and decided to approach the court as well. “The government’s step to halt funds of local bodies’ institutions is condemnable. The PTI is introducing similar local bodies policies as given in 1958, 1962 and 1979. They are more focused on the composition of local bodies’ institutions but not discussing the functions, financial structure, and political empowerment of local bodies’ system,” says Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, former spokesperson of PML-N government in Punjab and member provincial assembly. “We will welcome the government if it empowers the present system and lets it complete its tenure. Otherwise, we will resist it at all levels,” he concludes. An expert on local bodies system, Anwar Hussain, says the law does not hold any provision under which the current local bodies’ system can be suspended or terminated. The PTI government has to introduce a new law to terminate it.” Read also: Duality in Sindh “The government has not introduced any official proposal yet. Both the Local Government Ordinance, 2001 and Local Government Act, 2013 are under consideration by the government so that an acceptable devolution-based system may be introduced,” says Hussain, Executive Director Local Councils Association of the Punjab (LCAP). “The resentment regarding conducting direct election cannot be ignored. Besides, it is still not clear whether the DCOs will remain independent as the contemporary system is or work under the mayor,” he adds. [post_title] => The Punjab factor [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => punjab-factor [to_ping] => [pinged] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/duality-sindh/ [post_modified] => 2018-10-14 03:34:39 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:34:39 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=89517 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 89522 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2018-10-14 03:20:55 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:20:55 [post_content] => Karachi, a city of over sixteen million people, suffers from a municipal management crisis of epic proportions. Only 55 per cent of its daily water requirements get met, less than 60 per cent of its population has access to sewerage, and almost all its raw sewage is discharged untreated into the sea, plunging Karachi’s ranking among cities at the bottom of the Economist’s Global Livability Index. With over 20 different agencies often at odds over jurisdiction, the city has been carved up in territories of misgovernance and mismanagement at a colossal scale. The Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has proposed replication of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government system in Karachi where the mayor will be all-powerful and in charge of the district police and administration, as well as the departments of health, education, and the lower judiciary. The district mayor will also have fiscal autonomy to run the affairs of the local government. The plan reminds one of Karachi’s good times in the recent past. From 2001 to 2010, Karachi saw massive development when under Gen Musharraf’s devolution plan the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was established and all powers of provincial departments were transferred to the fully autonomous CDGK. But under the Sindh Local Government Act 2013, the devolution was scrapped and the Sindh government assumed most of the local government functions. It was like a fall from grace. Karachi’s mayor, Wasim Akhtar says the livability of the city suffered greatly when the powers of the mayor were clipped. Under the 2013 local government system, the mayor not only lost control over local development activities, buildings control and utilities, but worse, he lost control over his own district municipal bodies as well. CDGK towns were replaced with six district municipal corporations under the new law, and they were made autonomous and independent of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). Welcoming the prime minister’s plan, Wasim says it is very important for the KMC to have control over health, education, environment, overall development and security. Under the present system, Karachi’s urban planning, land use and building control are looked after by different agencies: Sindh Building Control Authority, Lyari and Malir Development Authorities, Sindh High Density Development Board, Sindh Special Development Board, Directorate of Urban Policy and Strategic Planning, Board of Revenue Sindh and the Katchi Abadis Authority. Institutional fragmentation has led to the formal private and public sectors offering only one-third of the 75,500 new housing units required in Karachi each year. The gap is filled by the land mafia that acquires land and develops it unofficially. There is unplanned development across the city with unchecked and unbridled land mafia encroaching any public space it can lay its hands on, reducing the city to vertical, concrete structures or ‘heat islands’. This encroachment business has left the megapolis with only four per cent of urban green space. Instead of being an essential function under the KMC, the solid waste disposal now falls under the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board which has not developed a single proper ‘landfill’. The issues of water and sewerage are looked after by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and the KMC, while the District Municipal Corporations (DMC) are reduced to managing the storm-water drains. The performance of the KWSB and the DMCs was such that for years they neglected storm-water drains which had gotten encroached upon, thanks to which Karachi was subjected to urban flooding every year following rains. It was only at the orders of the Supreme Court that funds were released and action to remove encroachments was initiated. The myriad of departments looking after the municipal services in an uncoordinated, isolated and piecemeal fashion have turned the city management and delivery of municipal services into a formidable challenge, particularly when they have to function on funding provided by the provincial government. KMC is given 75 per cent of its funding by the provincial government while the DMCs have to rely on the provincial government for 87 per cent funding. The mayor says the Sindh government is keeping all institutions under its control and he has not been given adequate funds and resources. “Because of scarce funding, the KMC is in deep financial crisis,” says Wasim. He adds that the Sindh government reduced by half the funds the KMC gets from the Octroi tax. This reduced its funds from Rs 12 billion to Rs six billion. He further stated that the KMC has 13 hospitals but due to lack of funding, they cannot offer quality healthcare. Rejecting reports of non-payment of development funds to KMC, the Sindh Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani says the provincial government gives regular grants in aid besides monthly allocations to the DMCs. He says the union council budget allocations have also been increased from Rs two lac per month to Rs five lac. The LG minister says the government of Sindh has disbursed Rs 38 billion to the local government in the last ten years. Similarly, Rs 72 billion were given as grant in aid, he adds. Ghani says this is besides the Rs 100 million allocated for the over 200 development schemes across the city. “Besides, we are providing a special grant of Rs430 million to KMC for its salaries on a monthly basis”. Read also: Banking on the KP model  Expressing reservations over the prime minister’s local bodies plan, Saeed Ghani says a uniform local government system cannot be imposed all over the country due to the provincial autonomy guaranteed by the constitution. He said “under the 18th Amendment, every province is free to implement its own local government system.” However, he said there is always room for improvement and we can make changes to improve the system and to eliminate any weaknesses. It is pivotal to give KMC the financial independence and unity of command of various agencies to turn Karachi into a more economically productive and livable city. [post_title] => Duality in Sindh [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => duality-sindh [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-10-14 00:41:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-13 19:41:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=89522 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 89524 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2018-10-14 03:18:52 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:18:52 [post_content] => Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s will be the first ever civilian government in the country’s history to make a serious effort to devolve powers to the third tier of the government. In the past, this had been the exclusive domain of the military regimes, though they always did so to bypass the political forces in the country. It has been reported in the media that the high level meetings which considered introducing a new model of local governments also took into account the possibility of holding the local bodies’ elections on non-party basis, a la the military government of General Ziaul Haq. PTI party leaders claim they would make the third tier of the government most effective by devolving powers to the local government. The famous 18th amendment devolved the subject of local bodies to the provincial governments and gave them the power to devolve whatever powers they like to the local officials. Constitutional experts say that in the wake of the said amendment, most provincial governments thought it best to keep all the powers with themselves, thus defeating the very concept of decentralisation or devolution of power to the lowest tier of government. Prime Minister Imran Khan apparently believes that the local government introduced by the PTI government in KP is the only model that achieved the ideal of and that led to actual development in remote localities of the province. The KP model of local government is not without its critics though. Experts say the system PTI government introduced in KP was akin to the local governments introduced by Musharraf’s military regime that led to the erosion of power of district administrations, paving the way for lawlessness, especially in parts of KP bordering tribal areas. Apparently, the PTI leadership wants the public to believe they are introducing a system which would perform as an independent entity. This, however, is hardly the case. In the words of KP officials, the previous government of Pervez Khattak kept on issuing directives to the local government throughout its tenure and threatened the local Nazims of removal from office if their directives were not followed. There doesn’t exist a consensus within the ruling party over the KP model of local government. In the first week of October, the PM held a meeting with party leaders from Punjab over whether the KP model could be introduced in Punjab. Party insiders say Governor Punjab, Chaudhry Sarwar, opposed the idea. After the meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry was quoted as saying that the PM had held a detailed discussion on new local government system and finalised three basic principles: the LG system should be simple, hold direct elections, and ensure empowering elected representatives to serve the masses at the grass root level. “As the village councils’ experiment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had rendered results, the Prime Minister wanted to resize union councils in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan,” Chaudhry said. “A village council is a smaller unit catering for 2,000 to 6,000 people while each union council in Punjab covers around 30,000 people. The question is whether village councils should be created or the size of a UC be reconsidered,” he explains. Besides, “there is the question whether direct election of mayor should be held at tehsil or district level,” he says. The Punjab leadership of the PTI is opposing the idea of resizing the union council or devolving power at the village level. Those opposing the KP system at the meeting argued that the administrative cost of the village council-based LG system would be very high. Therefore, they said, it would not work in Punjab. The main argument is that Punjab is a densely populated province as compared to KP and it will not be possible to create an administrative unit which doesn’t already exist in Punjab and where administrative structures are non-existent. Independent developmental experts like Zaigham Khan agree with this view, saying that administrative units don’t exist at the village level and it could cost the government a fortune to create new administrative structures, “We have administrative units in the shape of provinces, followed by divisions and districts and then tehsils. Is the PTI government trying to create new administrative units? We don’t know what they mean by it. They haven’t given us any definition,” says Khan. The prime minister wants to introduce the office of a powerful mayor in the big cities of the country based on the model of the London Mayor. The PM has repeatedly referred to the London Model of mayorship as an ideal for Pakistani cities, “Powerful mayors are a worldwide trend. Cities are areas where business takes place, where investment takes place and where crimes have to be checked,” he adds. An official handout issued by the Prime Minister’s Office quotes the prime minister as telling the participants in the October meeting that the PTI believes in transfer of power to the masses at the grass root level. The people could make their own decisions only through an effective and strong local government system,” it says. Experts say the London Mayor model will hardly solve problems in Punjab, which is facing unplanned urban expansion, “Small towns are emerging throughout the country and they don’t have any management, planning or city government structures,” Khan points out. The KP model also apparently has a system where police comes under the village council. The system also calls for monitoring and inspection of all government departments in the village by the village council. PTI insiders say which model would be eventually introduced in the country has not yet been finalised. Raoof Hassan, a political analyst, says the basic difference between the KP model and the system in Punjab is that the KP government devolved financial powers to the village council level, while in Punjab the government of PML-N didn’t devolve any power to the local government, he says. Read also: Editorial There are two basic problems with the KP model. There is no consensus within the PTI over whether the KP model could be planted in Punjab. Many PTI leaders in Punjab are strongly opposing the KP model. Secondly, the PTI government could easily implement the KP model in Punjab through legislation as they enjoy a comfortable majority in the Punjab Assembly. However, in Sindh this will not be possible, “My information is that they will request Sindh and Balochistan governments to introduce the KP model in their provinces. The Balochistan government is likely to accede to the request, whereas the Sindh government will not,” says Hassan. [post_title] => Banking on the KP model [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => banking-kp-model [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-10-14 00:41:22 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-13 19:41:22 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=89524 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 89516 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2018-10-14 03:16:31 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:16:31 [post_content] => There can’t be any disagreement about an effective local government system as a crucial link for democracy. Unfortunately, our polity that is marked by a unique civil-military power imbalance has made matters worse for any consensus to emerge on the subject. In the last 71 years of its existence, the local governments have made a strong appearance during long periods of martial law, assuming a political or non-political hue, depending on the whims of the military ruler. They have remained conspicuously absent during civilian rules which have always looked at them with suspicion. This mistrust of the lowest but most important tier, that effects devolution in the real sense, on the part of civilian forces is unfortunate, to say the least. The two tier system — the national and provincial — that has operated so far has therefore assumed the work of local governments through the development funds that it puts at the disposal of MNAs and MPAs, making them stay away from their real work i.e. legislation. Yet, for all this historical baggage, no real democratic discourse is possible without a fully functional local government system, and hence was duly provided in the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment — under Article 140A — that was passed in 2010. The subject was devolved to the provinces, and all the provinces had to bring in their own laws, and hold local bodies’ elections, even if under the orders of the Supreme Court. As the new PTI-led government assumed office in August this year, there were local governments in place in all four provinces. Of all the laws put in place by the provinces, the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was considered the best; better in theory than in practice but better still than the rest of the provinces — especially in how the provincial government disbursed 30 per cent of development funds to the local government. It was but a matter of time that the new government at the centre expressed an opinion about the local governments; it has spoken already about the need for a new, reformed system to replace the existing one. But there are a few problems: one, the federal government has no legal authority to speak on the matter; two, the existing local governments’ tenure is still far from over. Read also: A new local government system? The PTI government finds itself particularly in trouble in the largest province Punjab where its natural rival, PML-N, dominates the local governments. In our Special Report today, we have focused on the current situation as well as the systemic improvements for which perhaps Pakistan’s democracy is perfectly placed at this point in time. [post_title] => Editorial [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => editorial-149 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-10-14 00:40:43 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-10-13 19:40:43 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://tns.thenews.com.pk/?p=89516 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [format_content] => ) ) [post_count] => 6 [current_post] => -1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 89514 [post_author] => 29 [post_date] => 2018-10-14 03:26:46 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-13 22:26:46 [post_content] => The relationship between local governments and political parties in Pakistan has been an interesting one, marred by distrust and suspicion — especially due to the historical equation of local government bodies and military dictatorships. Because local governments have always worked strictly along provincial lines, whenever a military government came in power, it legitimised its existence by bypassing the provincial level where political parties have always been stronger, and institutionalised local governments instead. And the tug of war went on whenever a military government left or was ousted by political opposition. The political party would again change the power dynamics by taking power from local governments and handing it back to the provinces. 2010 was a turning point for Pakistan because under the 18^th Amendment, the constitution made it mandatory for provincial governments to set up local government systems, finally giving them constitutional protection. In 2013, all provincial governments came up with their own local government acts, with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government under Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) being the only one to devolve significant administrative authorities to the local bodies. On the contrary, local government in Punjab lacked independence and autonomy and the act reasserted their subordinate status in front of the provincial government. With PTI emerging as the ruling party in 2018 general elections and forming governments in Punjab and KP, it now finds itself in an interesting position where the party has declared its will to empower local governments by bringing in a new local government system in Punjab, one similar to that of KP. The currently elected local bodies all belong to the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), which makes it difficult for PTI to empower the opposition. With questions being raised in regards to the motivations behind PTI doing so, and how autonomous the local governments will actually become, experts say that PTI cannot bring in a new system unless it opts for a re-election. “We have formed a committee in Punjab, including 11 mayors and 36 district council chairmen and a few lawyers,” says Rana Sanaullah, PML-N leader and member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. “The committee is keeping an eye on PTI. If they declare a re-election, we will take it to court.” The former law minister Punjab says when the currently elected local government received votes, they received them to be elected for five years. So while the provincial government can change the system or amend it, as it likes, it cannot break its tenure. “This will be a violation of Article 140A,” he adds. Article 140A of the Constitution, brought in by the 18^th Amendment, states that each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments and that the Election Commission of Pakistan shall hold these elections. [box type="shadow" align="alignright" class="red_lines" ]The 2001 local government ordinance gave significant powers to the local bodies during General Musharraf’s era. In 2013, when that system was scrapped and the provinces released new acts in Punjab and Sindh, the provincial governments rolled back their powers significantly.[/box] According to Syed Ali Zafar, Advocate Supreme Court and former caretaker Federal Law Minister, the constitution empowers the PTI to establish a local bodies system through the provincial assembly and if they choose to have a re-election, they can do that as well. “They will have to do that by making a new law and under that law they can state that we now dissolve the local government and will have fresh elections,” he says. “There is no constitutional provision that stops them from doing so.” The constitution provides a complete framework for the national and provincial assemblies regarding how they are to come into existence and how they are to finish, so their tenure cannot be changed by creating new laws but such is not the case with local governments. While PML-N will fail to have a strong case in court, according to Advocate Zafar, “if the provincial governments continue to have the authority to dissolve local bodies, they will always stay subordinate.” He adds that a law should be provided to the effect that once elected they would have to complete their tenure. While the PML-N is strongly opposing the possibilities of a re-election, when it was the ruling party in Punjab, the provincial government retained almost all power and authority. According to Safiya Aftab, an economic and policy analyst based in Islamabad, the 2001 local government ordinance gave significant powers to the local bodies during General Musharraf’s era. In 2013, when that system was scrapped and the provinces released new acts in Punjab and Sindh, the provincial governments rolled back their powers significantly. “Health and educational which were significant works of the local governments under the 2001 ordinance are now run by District Health Authorities in Punjab, which are unelected bodies.” Analysing the motivations behind PTI bringing in a new local government system, Umair Javed, a political analyst based in Lahore, says it would help PTI in more than one way. “There is an ideational component to it that Imran Khan genuinely believes that local governments need to be instituted and strengthened.” But at the time if PTI wants to consolidate its power and strengthen the party in the province, which has been otherwise ruled for 10 years by PML-N, it makes sense for them to dissolve the current system and make gains on the fact that PTI is now the incumbent provincial government, he explains. “So it’s a way of strengthening their government by eliminating the opposition from the seats that they currently hold.” He further adds that if the government was solely interested in empowering local bodies, PTI could have let them finish their term and given them a few more resources, re-institutionalising them from the next term. “But right now because the local government consists only of PML-N, it would be impossible for PTI to give them any more authority or power. They would face a lot of opposition from within the party itself,” he says. PTI has said that the new local government system will be similar to the one in KP, but while the law itself was better in the province in allocating greater authority to local governments, it did run into issues. According to Javed, PTI did want to devolve more financing as administrative powers but they were constrained by not having sufficient bureaucratic capacity. Secondly, the province hasn’t performed well in regards of raising its own revenues, which caused them to remain in a financial crunch. “So even though they promised they would devolve 40 per cent of the Annual Development Plan to the local governments,” he says, “I don’t think they were able to make the disbursements in any of the years in the previous term.” Keeping in mind the equation between local governments, military regimes and political parties in Pakistan, Ammar Rashid, a researcher of development and public policy, said that Pakistan now has an opportunity to have a genuine local government system because there has been a democratic government for 10 years. “For that we need to make the district governments autonomous, do away with the provincial government’s power to dismiss local governments and do actual financial decentralisation by giving 50 per cent of the development funds to the district governments,” says Rashid, who is also a member of the Awami Workers Party. “Another thing PTI can do is to make sure that a Provincial Finance Commission becomes a legal obligation of the government,” says Javed. “The commission would then make decisions based on both need and population and all other factors that come under any finance commissioner’s jurisdiction, making sure that governments have enough fiscal space and autonomy to perform better.” Read also: “The benchmark is Article 140A and Article 32” While PTI prepares to shape a new law for the local government system, if it truly wants to empower it, the party needs to clearly delineate the administrative responsibilities of the province. If the law states that health and education, municipal development, water and sanitation, urban planning, solid waste management are all the responsibilities of the local government and not the provincial government, together with an adequate fiscal space, their party would be heading in the right direction. Unless such provisions are added, it would be another attempt at strengthening party roots, as seen before in democratic governments, instead of an effort to make local governments autonomous. And while it brings in a new system, and even if it declares a re-election in Punjab, it is legally free to do so. Abdul Aleem Khan, Provincial Minister of Punjab for Local Government and Community Development, was reached out to multiple times but did not respond. [post_title] => A new local government system? 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