Donors study on devolution has revealed that voters turn out in well-contested local elections was encouraging as both the districts and tehsil councillors have become better identified public figures and more accessible to their constituents.
However, the study found out that provincial involvement in responsibilities of the local government, in part due to transitional problems, not only blurs lines of responsibility but also undermines local government accountability.
The Government of Pakistan earlier requested the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and United Kingdom Department for International Development to review and provide advice on how devolution is contributing to improved service delivery throughout the country. The report was made public on Monday.
The report is based on empirical research in six districts and twelve Tehsils all over the country.
It finds positive evidence of genuine change, particularly in the opportunities that citizens have gained to voice their needs and concerns to elected representatives.
At the same time, the assessment shows many entrenched practices and attitudes still impede efforts to meet those concerns with sustained and effective actions.
Along with the examination of what has happened since the Devolution Plan was announced in 1999, the report discusses possible actions to give devolution greater momentum and impact than it has so far achieved.
MANY NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE GOVERNMENT: The study notes that while the Local Government Ordinances specify new institutional mechanisms for citizen oversight over local government, effective citizen monitoring of service providers continues to remain a challenge.
Citizen power is not yet a force to be reckoned with in most jurisdictions, except in the few cases in districts and Tehsils where Citizen Community Boards had begun to operate on facility-development matters.
Similarly, the formal instruments of oversight - Accounts Committees, Monitoring Committees, District Public safety Commissions, and Insaaf Committees have been formed in many districts and Tehsils but not yet made effective.
Moreover, severe shortages of senior management staff impede efficiency, and the staff of districts and Tehsils is further handicapped by inappropriate notification of their responsibilities and jurisdiction.
Overall, the report finds that Nazimeen and councillors are responsive to citizens and that the greater accessibility of local politicians is having a positive impact.
For instance, it appears that doctors and teachers are now more likely to be at their posts. Medicine is more often available in clinics.
Councillors, both directly and through new dispute resolution arrangements at the local level, are now seen to be responding to people's needs and concerns. The devolution process is beginning to witness the accountability that represents one of its basic political objectives.
ADMINISTRATIVE DEVOLUTION HAS LAGGED BEHIND POLITICAL DEVOLUTION: The study finds that local governments have limited managerial authority over their staff as the transfer of functions and the physical relocation of staff have not been fully matched by the transfer of the employer role.
The result is that although physically located in the districts, most senior district staff do not consider themselves as district employees and therefore are likely to accommodate provincial pressures to transfer subordinate staff, which weakens the accountability of senior district staff to local elected representatives.
In fact, inter-and intra-district staff transfers are a main area of confrontation between provincial and local governments and are most severe in districts that are not politically aligned with the province.
These problems are most clearly evident in the relationship between the district Nazim and the senior staff in the district, particularly the District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) and the District Police Office (DPO).
FISCAL DECENTRALISATION IS FAR FROM COMPLETE: In fiscal affairs, devolution's anticipated incentives do not operate with anything like full effect.
While Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) Awards are in place, there are problems with the implementation of these awards that have resulted in reduced funding for local governments.
Specifically, funding to local government is reduced by provinces earmarking transfers to programmes, they designate, and through the imposition of arbitrary deductions from the divisible pool of funds.
By failing to deliver budgetary certainty and autonomy in budget preparation, these practices undermine the incentives for effective financial management at local levels.
The study finds that districts not only have a weak tax base but also have trouble in collecting some of the taxes assigned to them. Additional incentives, in the form of the PFC awards that might encourage raising local revenue, have been few.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT: The Report's recommendations address all three levels of government - federal, provincial and local - with the aim of strengthening devolution, recognising that provinces feel that they have lost out with devolution.
The report emphasises the need for demonstrable federal government commitment to strengthen role of the provinces, through increased transfer of resources, and the devolution of certain taxes to the provinces.
Similarly, the report emphasises the need for demonstrable provincial government commitment to strengthening local government, through devolution of certain taxes to local governments, the reassignment of functions mandated to local governments but currently retained by some provinces (such as water supply and sewerage), capacity building of local governments, and greater district control over their staff.
Specifically, the report highlights the importance of clarifying the separation of executive and judicial powers, through restructuring reporting obligations between the DPO and the District Nazim.
For local governments, the report's recommendations focus on undertaking fewer development schemes that can be completed instead of starting many schemes without the ability to complete them on time, increasing coverage of user charges, and strengthening inter-jurisdiction planning and co-ordination.
Comments
Comments are closed.