Noting the universal features of successful local government’s model, this column has previously argued that if the new political setup wishes to leave its mark in welfare delivery, its needs to allow space for fiscally buck toothed tehsil and district governments. And like most things Pakistani, the groundwork needs to start with Punjab.
The legislation currently enforced in the province has been much criticized over the past half-decade for its failure in creating effective decentralized local bodies. Failure of successful delivery was naturally ascribed to lack of political will, which is fair for an election that was held under threat of judicial contempt.
However, with the change of gatekeepers on Mall road, political will should no more be a challenge in moving forward on devolution of authority in the land of five rivers. The provincial administration is now ostensibly run by a troika and not one-man army of the yore, which indicates that the tailwinds shall favour further decentralization.
The question of weak legislation for local governments, however, still remains. In a 2013 report Rural Development Policy Institute argued that the PLG Act is a “highly centralized system of local government which hardly moves beyond a certain degree of de-concentration at max.
Financial and administrative powers continue rest with the provincial government, with local mayors and tehsil chairmen restricted to removal of encroachment, construction of streets, and managing sanitary employees. The power to appointment and dismisses local representatives rest at the hands of the chief minister.
The challenge in Punjab is particularly poignant given that the province scores higher on basic indicators of governance outcomes such as health, education and outcome, relative to other provinces. From Danish schools to Shehr-e-Khamoshah, government’s footprint in public welfare has not only expanded, the perception holds that it has also delivered. Lahore consistently remains to be cited as the model urban metropolis for rest of the country, as the absence of a powerful mayor or effective local body has not been noticed.
The challenge, for the new setup, therefore, is to not just to display its political will towards reforming local government bodies. While the first step towards sustainable governance will be to rewrite the legislation, it will be much harder for PTI to convincingly demonstrate that the reformed system is objectively better at achieving markers of service delivery compared to the previous government. Given the austerity drive expected at federal as well provincial levels, the provincial government in Punjab has a tough job ahead. The sooner it gets down to delegating rights and responsibilities to local governments, the better!