Punjab Local Government Minister Dost Muhammad Khosa has said that the provincial government does not want to eliminate the existing local government system, rather it wants to remove flaws to make the local government system accountable and efficient.
He expressed these views while addressing a workshop on local government system, which was organised by the Pakistan's Districts Work, a project of USAID, and Nielsen Pakistan here on Monday. The workshop was organised to disseminate results of a national survey on 'Citizens perceptions and preferences on the local government system in Pakistan.'
Parliamentarians, elected representatives of districts, towns and union councils as well as senior government officials were present on the occasion. The Minister stressed the need for making the locals government system flawless and service oriented. He said the government has its own views on the existing local government system, and it has identified many flaws in it.
He also said many foreign experts, with whom he had interacted with, say the Pakistan local bodies have miserably failed. "Many provincial departments, such as social conservation, forest and fisheries, were devolved to district level and despite this no progress were shown by these departments. Matter of the fact is that these are provincial subjects which were handed over to the district governments," he added.
He observed that the idea of local government is good, but it was not implemented properly. He was of the view that if only education, health and water and sanitation departments were devolved then the system would have performed better. He said induction of new system led to overlapping of authorities and ending of urban-rural divide, this created hurdles in its smooth working.
He also said accountability of district governments was another issue. He said during the last eight years no audit of the district governments was done, and the recent audit reports, carried out by the present government, had unearthed embezzlements of billions of rupees. "The government favours change in the system, but for the betterment of the masses and not for one person. District governments should an extension of the provincial government, implementing the policies of federal and provincial governments; and it should not make policies," he added.
He said the current local government system had various flaws that was obvious from the situation in Fata and Karachi where the elected nazims were unable to address the issues relating to law and order. The Minister observed that no policy could become meaningful till it was implemented and the district government had to take action in this connection. He also said in Lahore, the District Nazim and his team failed to ensure the sale of roti at Rs 2, it was the provincial government that made it possible.
Earlier, Dr Kevin Curnow, Chief of Party DTW Project, said legitimacy of government was often measured by it capacity to meet the service delivery needs of the people in the form and function that the people require of their elected leaders. "Reformation of the local government system was not just a matter of closeted technical reform but needs to take place in an environment where the wishes, wants and desires of the people with respect to the form and functioning of local government were of a great importance," he added.
He said the survey report directly expresses the wishes, wants, and desires of the people with respect to the form and functioning of local government at the very time when the provinces were moving to reform their local government systems. William Cartier, Senior Technical Advisor of DTW Project, said in the survey, people express substantive dissatisfaction with service delivery to date, but that dissatisfaction would only ease through improved services delivery in a revised system that directly reflects the wishes, wants and desires of the people.
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