EDITORIAL: Uncertainty hangs over the overdue local governments (LGs) elections in Islamabad. This past Tuesday the ruling PML-N introduced the “ Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government (Amendment) Bill” in the National Assembly, increasing the number of union councils from six to nine and reserved seats for women from two to three, and hurriedly got it approved by suspending the rules.
The next day, the bill was steamrolled through the Senate, without referring it to the relevant standing committee for discussion and putting it before the House for debate, drawing strong criticism from opposition leader Shibli Faraz for binging up a piece of legislation in haste at a time , he said, LG polls were round the corner. If that was not bad enough, the Law Minister refused to give any assurance that the polls will be held on schedule, saying it is the sole domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which seems to have no qualms about playing along with the government.
Notably, the ECP had announced the elections for September 29 but then extended the date to October 9, purportedly, on the request of political parties.
The opposition PTI is not so wrong when it alleges that this was done to allow the government time to make an amendment to the existing law requiring new constituency delimitations, which is a time taking process. It also claims that the PML-N wanted to avoid the electoral exercise for fear of its (PTI’s) immense public support. That may or may not be reason for an indefinite postponement.
As a matter of fact, devolution of power to the grassroots remains an anathema to elected governments in the provinces as well as at the Centre. All of them have tried to dodge LG polls as far as possible on one pretext or another. If not resorting to delaying tactics anymore they go through the motions without giving LGs necessary fiscal and administrative autonomy.
The problem is the prevailing culture of entitlements, particularly in Punjab and Sindh. It may be recalled that although the PTI’s first government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa enacted and implemented a decent LG law, in Punjab its government suspended the existing LGs and kept putting off new elections due to resistance from legislators, most of whom are in the habit of controlling postings and transfers of district and tehsil level administration and police officers in their respective constituencies to protect and promote personal interests. And the ruling political parties like to oblige them through distribution of development funds largesse.
Greater public good must supersede this obsession with control. Local bodies are best placed to address local issues at local level such as functional schools, roads, water systems, and waste disposal, etc, provided they have the requisite resources and conditions.
It is imperative therefore that not only elections to this third tier of government are held regularly, the related laws must also be responsive to issue and concerns of all citizens. That calls for delegation of administrative authority; and equally if not more important is the need to replicate the National Finance Commission’s vertical financial resource distribution formula between the federal government and the provinces for LGs so that they can better deliver services to the people at the grassroots.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024