Recently passed twin laws, the Punjab Local Govt. Act 2019, and the Punjab Village Panchayats & Neighborhood Councils Act 2019, is hastily passed without going through the due consultative process with key stakeholders. Like the previous political governments, the current provincial government too, has ensured real powers vested with itself, through the said enactments. Not only the ratio of women representation is decreased, but the seats of youth has also been completely abolished, which negates the spirit of Article 140-A/ of Constitution.
Meanwhile the appointment of unelected administrators is undemocratic. Therefore, new LG elections should be announced to fill the system with elected people within 90 days". These views were expressed at a stakeholders' dialogue on "Punjab Local Govt Act 2019", organized by WISE (Women in Struggle for Empowerment), in collaboration with SDF (Sangat Development Foundation) and IDEA (Institute for Democratic Education & Accountability), here on Saturday.
Zahid Islam (Director SDF), Salman Abid (Director IDEA), Bushra Khaliq (Director WISE), Mubeen Qazi (Legal Expert on LG), Hussain Naqi (Human Rights Expert) were the main speakers. Speakers discussed the weakness and strengths of the new LG laws in Punjab, introduced by the PTI govt. Discussing the good points, they appreciated provisions like; direct transaction of development funds to Village Panchayats & Neighborhood Councils, putting basic education and health units under the control of the elected representatives and citizens participation through "Commons Assemblies" etc.
However, the weaknesses outnumber the good points. They said the current government of PTI makes tall claims about women and youth as their main strength but this important lot has less or no representation in the LG system. The women representation has been decreased while youth is totally ignored, which is very upsetting. They viewed that in the new law, local boards have been established for the monitoring of council with the right of suspension and dismissal of the councils anytime, which means powers have not been decentralized, which is undemocratic and in contradiction to the spirit of the constitutional provisions.
The Local government is considered a nursery of new politicians; therefore, government should give women and youth more opportunities to join politics rather than excluding them. At least 33 percent representation for women should be ensured. Similarly, the peasants, labourers and workers, which comprise big chunk of marginalized population - has been ignored in the new LG laws. Their reasonable representation should also be ensured through reserve seats on all tiers.
They criticized the unnecessary increase in the minimum age limit for the candidates from 21 to 25 years, which deprives representation of youth between the age group of 18-25 years of age. The huge chunk of population must have its sufficient representation in the new system, they demanded. The Punjab Village Punchayats and Neighbourhood Councils Act 2019 provides elections on non-party basis, which is a disservice to democracy at grass roots level, they viewed, adding that polls should be held on party basis and the duties and functions of the Village Punchayats and Neighborhood Councils should be increased.
The participants pointed out some errors and omissions in the drafting of the twin laws; For instance, Punjab Local Govt. Act 2019, calls for 9 metropolitans (at divisional levels), while The Punjab Village Panchayats & Neighborhood Councils Act 2019 mentions 3 metropolitans. Similarly, the language of the draft bills is gender blind; for instance, instead of using "he/she", the word 'he' is repeatedly used in the text. This needs to make gender neutral.
They said in the new PLGA2019, Metropolitan Corporation, Municipal Corporation, municipal committees and town committees have been introduced in the urban system while village councils and tehsil councils would be established in the rural LG system. Neighbourhood councils have been introduced but they have no link with urban local governments both legally or administratively.