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Human
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Lesson
40
DEVOLUTION
REFORMS A NEW SYSTEM OF
GOVERNMENT
For
the last four years a
sweeping program of reforms has
been underway in Pakistan.
Under the old system
of
government,
the provinces administered the districts
and tehsils directly through the
bureaucracy at the
division,
district and tehsil level. Executive and
judicial authority was
concentrated in the person of the
Deputy
Commissioner.
There was little scope of
elected representatives to participate in
local administration.
Under
the old system, governance
was centralized so that
decisions about local level
planning and development
were
taken higher up, with little
reference or relevance to local
needs and aspirations.
Because civil
servants
were
not accountable to the public,
there was little incentive
for them to ensure quality
service delivery.
The
Devolution Plan and Local
Government Ordinance 2001 brought about a
grassroots transformation in
Pakistan's
system of government, especially at the
local level. Divisions were
abolished, and instead a
three tier
local
government structure comprising of three
categories of local government district,
tehsils/towns and
union
was brought in.
Elected
Nazims and Niab Nazims
head each union, tehsil and
district local government, and
there are political
linkages
between the three tiers.
These elected bodies are
supposed to ensure that
planning and development is
carried
out in accordance with local
needs. The elected officials
also monitor the functioning of
local
administrators.
Civil servants are therefore
accountable to elected representatives,
who are in turn
accountable
to
the public at the local level.
Devolution
in Pakistan follows the principle of
subsidiary, whereby all
functions that can be
effectively
performed
at the local levels are
transferred to that level. It would be
worthwhile at this stage to explore
the
concept
and experience of subsidiary as it is
practiced in other parts of the
world.
Subsidiary
Principle & Practices
The
principle of subsidiary was
introduced in 1991 Maastricht Treaty
that ascertained "decision-making to
be
performed
at the lowest possible effective administrative
level" in the European multi-level-governance
system.
Different
European nations and governments had
different understanding of the policy implications
of
subsidiarity,
however, they had a common interest in making the
increasing supranational European
Union
(EU)
competence more acceptable
and more legitimate for
their respective people. The
notion of subsidiarity
was
linked to a political agenda
focusing bottom-up governance
and the strengthening of national
democratic
institutions.
Though
the EU constitution is a bit vague
over the concrete definition of the
notion of subsidiarity, probably
due
to different national governance
traditions, subsidiarity is recognized as an
important measure for
reducing
the
EU deficit of democracy and
legitimacy.
In
the Continental European democratic
tradition credence was given to the
idea of the state as an
abstract
identity,
as something different from the
society, bearing inherent responsibility
for the performance of
public
functions
or as a collective actor representing the
society as a whole. In this context the
British tradition is
different,
rather than looking upon the
state as a top-down authority
responsible for the common best, it
was
conceived
as an instrument of mediating between politics
and societal interests as
for instance the
market
forces.
Probably this mediating function of the state
explains why Britain was
left without a
written
constitution,
political institutions and the
civil society were instead
perceived as the constraining elements
in
function,
concretely and continuously correcting the
state through bargaining
processes.
Subsidiarity,
in the context of EU, is implemented as
referable outward/downward distributed
public
governance
in terms of establishment of independent
public agencies and other
government bodies. In France,
the
22 elected regional assemblies and
their governments have attained
governance function and
steering
capacity
in mutual public public partnership
with the central state. In
Britain it functions differently
and the
mediating
status of the state is recognized
when the state subsidiaries in
terms of fragmented independent
agencies
function as the main regional authorities,
performing development policies in
public-private
partnership.
Despite
historically belonging to the Continental
tradition, political processes in
Norway targeting subsidiarity
as
outward/downward distributed public
governance, seems to be in the beginning of
placing the state
function
somewhere
between the Continental and
British democratic and administrative
tradition. Elected regional
assemblies
and governments still exist
as weak political authorities, but
are for the time being threatened
of
abandonment.
Independent agencies and
other public institutional
bodies, fragmented or in partnership,
are
empowered
and growing in number especially on the
sub-national level.
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In
nutshell the EU principle of subsidiarity as
introduced by Maastricht Treaty in 1991
is "devolution of
competence
upward to the supranational European tier by
agreement is recommended when greatest
policy
outcome
and effectiveness is expected on
that level. Similarly, downward devolution of
competence to regional
and
local authorities or partnership institutions,
ought to be implemented when most effective
policy
arrangements
for regenerating local and
regional economy are expected
outcome on the lower
level".
Pakistan
is obviously free of the inherent
complexities of EU in terms of different
nations, cultures,
economies,
priorities
etc. and does not
need to address the supranational
notion and therefore subsidiarity in
our country
has
to be on outward/downward basis so that
maximum power and decision making
occur at the lowest
governmental
tiers with main aim of
providing basic municipal services to the
masses. This is exactly what the
Devolution
Plan intends to do, to empower
political, financial and administrative
organs at the lowest tier
of
governance.
The
New Notion of Functional Subsidiarity
& Governance in Europe
Today
issues of horizontal or functional
subsidiarity are at the very centre of
the debate regarding kinds of
subsidiaries
and governance.
The
principle of subsidiarity does
not only limit the activity
of state in a vertical direction. It sets
limits also in a
horizontal
way: what can be settled by
local or transactional functional
committees or civil society
initiatives,
should
and must not be regulated by
state activity at all. Examples of
functional subsidiarity include
initiatives
in
the field of culture and education,
health, social welfare and
consumer protection. Other
issues include
alternative
or extra judicial dispute regulation
between e-commerce
stakeholders.
Therefore
traditional forms of exclusive vertical subsidiarity
have to be supplemented and widened by
new
perspectives.
Principle of subsidiarity within the EU
debate is presented as a tenant of
democratic government
which
stipulates that decisions should be
taken as closely to the citizen as
possible. As MacCormick notes,
"The
doctrine of subsidiarity requires
decision-making to be distributed to the
most appropriate level. In that
context,
the best democracy is one
that insists on levels of
democracy appropriate to levels of
decision-
making."
DECENTRALIZATION:
THE DARK SIDE
Following
excerpts from the press tell
a different story about decentralization
efforts made so far:
·
Sargoodha
district Nazim Amjad Ali
Noon said that lesser funds
were allocated to districts
after
devolution.
Most of the corrupt officials
were posted in districts deliberately. He
said that the MNAs
and
MPAs obstructed release of funds to
district governments. He suggested
that district governments
be
given part of the revenues collected by
them for the provincial government
(Mr.
Amjad Ali Noon
Sargoodha
District Nazim)
·
Khairpur
district Nazim Nafisa Shah
had similar reservations in the
same seminar.
·
The
process (devolution) had
been marred because of denial of
financial autonomy to local
governments
and virtually reversed after the
recent amendments to the LGO
(Speakers
at a seminar
on
"Devolution process review" arranged by
Pakistan NGO's Coordination Council)
·
Devolution
had created problems in
Pakistan because the western
countries having the district
government
had only two tiers of
government the federation and the
district administration
whereas
Pakistan had the federation, province
and district. Conflicts had
arisen over the division
of
spheres
of control between the provincial
and district governments
(Mr.
Tahir Kardar,
District
Nazim's
Coordinator)
·
Complete
devolution had not taken
place because the idea was
in conflict with the highly
centralized
power
system in the country. The
district governments had
failed to function satisfactorily on
account
of
a lack of financial autonomy in the form of power to
levy taxes for generating
their own revenues
(Mr.
Shakir, South Asia
Partnership representative)
·
The
recent amendments to LGO had
made the district governments, which
was initially banking
on
the
federation for resources,
dependent on provincial governments as
well. Earlier the CM could
suspend
any nazim or the resolution of
any local government council with the
consent of the
provincial
assembly. The recent changes
had empowered him to do so
with the concurrence of the
provincial
local government commission, which
was headed by a minister. He said the
inclusion of
MNAs
and MPAs in the district development
committees would lead to a
new clash. He said
the
provincial
government had won the battle for
supremacy over the district
governments, as they had
got
the power to dissolve the same and
appoint caretakers before the local
government elections. The
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accepted
proposal to reduce the number of councilors at the
union council level would result
in
reduction
of over 50,000 seats of councilors in the
system. The amendments had
put the very idea of
devolution
at stake (Mr.
Salman Hadi)
·
The
poor sections of society
would lose representation as a
result of reduction in the number
of
councilors.
The LGO should have been
amended to strengthen the system
and not for reducing
the
representation
of the people (Mr.
Tariq Sana Bajwa, Data
Ganj Bakhsh Town Nazim)
·
The
provinces were not ready to
devolve power to the district
governments. Appointment of the
people
defeated in the local government elections as
coordinators had also weakened the
system (Mr.
Faraish
Ali Chaudhry, Nishter Town
Municipal Officer)
·
Rs700
million had been stuck in
CCB's funds in the city district
because the local government
elections
were
held in 2001, but the CCB
rules were framed in 2003.
She said the social welfare
officers did not
have
forms for registration of CCBs, but
many union council nazim had
utilized the funds (Ms
Shazia
Khan,
Social Welfare)
·
The
Faisalabad district council has
failed to hold its session
for the last six months,
except for a two-
day
session in April in which no
business was transacted for
want of quorum. According to insiders,
a
four
day session was held from
Dec. 4, 2004 in which a number of agenda
items were approved
and
scores
of schemes finalized for
different parts of six
tehsils City, Saddar,
Chak Jhumra,
Jaranwala,
Tandlianwala
and Samundri of the district. After
that session, the councilors
started electioneering
and
establishing links with
heavyweights of the area instead of
attending the council sessions. A
two-
day
session was called by the
convener on April 27th which did nothing
for the lack of quorum.
Similarly,
no session of TMA (city) could be held during the
last three months due to
lack of interest
by
the members. It may be noted
that the Faisalabad council was the
biggest council of the country
with
406 members while the city
TMA was the biggest with
strength of 162 members
(A
news report)
·
The
Punjab government has transferred 6 EDOs
(education), including the EDO
Rawalpindi, for their
alleged
failure to achieve the targets
set by the CM (A
news report)
·
The
government should restore the LGO 2001 in
its original form, otherwise
they (Nazimeen) would
challenge
these one-sided amendments incorporated
into the ordinance in court. He said,
"There is no
justification
to transform towns into Tehsils," and
added that the centre did it
to protect their
interest
in
a different form. He said we
have strong reservations against 3
amendments which include the
authority
given to the CM to suspend the Nazim for
three months, the transformation of
town into
tehsil
and appointment of caretakers in
place of Nazims for the coming
local bodies' elections. He
also
said
that another disadvantage of the newly
introduced LGO was that a
Nazim could be removed by a
simple
majority in the house, which
was a joke with democracy.
He said, "We have demanded
that
members
for the Local Government Commission
must be appointed equally
from both the
government
and the opposition but the government
picked four members of their
own while only
one
from
the opposition. (Mr.
Haroon Bilour, Chairman
Tehsil Towns Nazimeen
Association,
Peshawar)
·
Rahim
Yar Khan district has
become a wrestling field among the
different political groups
for
forthcoming
local government elections. Contrary to
tall claims of unprecedented
achievements by the
district
government, the reality is quite different.
The district government system
has caused further
damage
to the social and political
fabric in the district instead of
improving it. The politicians
sacrificed
the
national interests by dividing the people
on ethnic lines for their
own personal benefits. The
RYK
district
occupies very sensitive and
important geographic location. It has
more than 100 km
border
with
India. In 1971 war, Indians
attacked RYK desert sector
but got humiliating defeat.
The ethnic
division,
developed by politicians, could lead to ethnic clashes
between Seraikies and
Punjabis. The
strategic
importance of this area can be gauged by
a single factor that
national highway and main
railway
track which connected Sindh province
rest of Pakistan was only 60
km away from the
Indian
border.
The district is consisted of 60
per cent Seraiki community mainly
residing in Kuccha area
and
40
per cent Punjabi ethnic group
settled in Pacca area.
District Nazim Syed Ahmed
Mahmood always
used
ethnic and spiritual card to
win elections. The Seraiki
group is headed by District
Nazim Ahmed
Mahmood
who in his four year tenure
spent almost 50 per cent
development budget in his
constituency
not for people but for
his industrial unit Jamal
Din Wali Sugar Mill,
claimed his
opponents.
If preventive or remedial steps
are not taken against
ethnicity and regionalism by the
high-
ups,
RYK may face ethnic war
(A
news report)
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·
Residents
of Lora and other adjacent
union councils have criticized the
provincial government for
giving
tehsil status to Havelian instead of the
Lora union council. They said
that the Lora union
council
was at a 3 hour journey from
Abbotabad which caused
hardships to the people to come to
the
city
to do their day-to-day business. They
said that the minister for
local government announced
that
the
tehsil offices for Havelian would be
based in Abbotabad (A
news report)
·
The
union councils that are the
basic units of the new local government
system have no powers
whatsoever
and failed to deliver. A
report points out various
shortcomings and weaknesses of the
new
local
government system and appreciates
that a good beginning has
been made and that the
system can
be
further improved in consultation with
various groups of people. As
compared with the working
of
previous
council the new ones have
definitely shown improvements in
providing civic amenities
like
roads,
streets, sanitation, water and power
supply etc. It has provided
a basis for good governance
and
enlightenment.
The report made the
following observations:
Powers
of union councils
Contrary
to the local government ordinance that
gives wide powers to the
union councils they have
been found
lacking
all powers. They are given
no funds to remove grievances of the people.
Each council is given Rs60,000
per
month that is spent on administration,
salaries and honorarium for
the nazims. The council has
neither
power
nor funds to meet the demands of
its voters. Nazims have
some powers and funds which
they distribute
among
the councilors of their choice. Most of
the councilors feel ashamed of being councilors
and felt they
had
committed blunder.
Party
based elections
The
local government bard political parties
from participating in local
bodies' election which has
kept away the
experienced
political workers from the
councils. However the opponents of the
political parties thought
that
the
parties, if allowed to contest elections,
would interfere in the autonomy of the
local bodies.
Lack
of publicity
The
new local government system
was a new experience both
for the people and their
candidates and the
government
had failed to give due
publicity through media and
other means that could
educate them. As a
result
the councilors had little information
about their role and
working. Insaaf committees chairman
said the
people
were not aware of the
existence of these committees
nor had they any information
about their powers
and
the people still approach the influential
land holders to decide their
disputes.
Decision
making
Decisions
are not made in the union
councils taking their member
into confidence and all
decisions are taken
by
nazims and their deputies
arbitrarily. The councilors feel
that the new system is more
a system of nazims
than
that of people's. It has
strengthened the hands of big
landlords.
No
confidence
The
amendment to the law against no
confidence move against nazims
has been severely criticized. It
was
strange
that no confidence can be moved against
deputy nazim. The councilors have
demanded that they
should
have powers to move no confidence against
nazims and their deputies to
bar them from taking
decisions
without taking them into
confidence.
Development
works
The
nazims have not been
taking councilors into confidence
while taking decisions for
starting development
projects.
Most of the projects were
not needed by the people and they
were started at the behest of
high ups.
Multi-award
system
Most
of the councilors said numerous problems
of the people had arisen by merging
wards into union
council.
They
advocated restoration of old wards to
solve the problems of the people.
Workers
and Peasants
Most
of these seats have been
filled people who were
neither workers nor
peasants. Only five per
cent of the
seats
might have genuine
representation and they have no
powers.
Relations
with government
National
and provincial assemblies
are not completely in favor of
new local government system. There is
no
coordination
among union, tehsil, and
district councils. The
powers of district, provincial and
federal
government
in respect of the local councils
are vague.
Public
safety commissions
They
are not performing their
role of check and balances
properly and nobody knows
about their powers.
Police
have not accepted them and
register cases against their
members.
Minority
councilors
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While
the government has accepted the principle
of joint electorates, the local
body elections were held on
the
basis
of separate electorates depriving
minorities of their real
representation in the councils.
Discrimination
against
them continues and they cannot play
their role in political
process. The majority
members invariably
reject
their schemes and
suggestions. Only two union
councils in Sheikhopura and Khenewal
districts out of
about
three dozen districts have
nazims from minority
councilors.
The
report has also made a
number of recommendations to improve the
performance of the union, tehsil
and
district
councils and their various
committees. It suggested renaming tehsil
council as city council and
restoration
of magistracy at tehsil level. (Outcome of a survey
conducted by the South Asian
Partnership
(Pakistan)
in 18 districts of Punjab by holding a
series of seminars, symposia,
meetings and discussions
with the
members
of the union councils and
other tiers of the new local
government system, representatives of
people,
teachers,
social workers, journalists, lawyers,
women activists and minority
members. The report deals
with the
working
of three years of union
councils in 18 districts of Lahore, Kasur,
Sheikhopura, Gujranwala, Layyah,
Bhakkar,
Rajanpur, Pakpattan, Vehari, Lodharan,
Multan, Sahiwal, Khenewal, Rahim
Yar Khan, Bahawalpur,
Bahawalnagar,
Mianwali and
Sargodha)
·
A
serious contradiction between the
code of conduct and LGO relating to the
non political nature
of
LB
polls may either cause disqualification
of national and provincial
legislators or land them in
trouble
for
making false declaration. It was
pointed out that the LGO
allowed cabinet ministers and
members
of
the national and provincial
assemblies to contest the LB elections
but they would have to
resign
their
present seats if elected.
Section 153 of LGO 2001,
states that local body
elections will be held on
non
party basis and candidates
will be required to submit an affidavit to the EC to
the effect that they
have
no affiliation with any
political party. This provision
alone is loaded with risks
for members of
national
and provincial assemblies
have been elected on party
tickets. Legal experts say
that these
members
would either have to quit the
membership of their parties to be
able to contest the
elections
or
make false declaration about
their political affiliation.
The EC of Pakistan was found
to be lacking
an
answer on this issue and
their comments are,
"Frankly, we have no answer.
Nobody appears to
have
paid attention to it. This is a serious
problem and the point is
valid," said an official
(Justice
Abdul
Hameed Dogar, Acting
CFC)
·
A
large number of people protesting over inclusion of
some union councils of
Larkana district into
the
Shikarpur
district held a rally in Naudero. They
chanted slogans against the
division of Ratodero and
blocked
the Larkana-Sukhur road for an hour. Local
MNAs and MPAs said
four dehs Shadi
Abro,
Panjo
Kinaro, Nazar Detho and
Salar Janveri were chopped
from Ratodero taluka and
merged with
Garhi
Yaseen taluka of the Shikarpur district. They
said it was a calculated
move to divide the
constituency
of Benazir Bhutto. They
demanded that the decision be
withdrawn and Naudero
should
be
given a status of taluka because it
comprised of nine union
councils (A
news report)
·
The
local chamber of commerce
and industry opposed the
division of Gujranwala into four towns
and
termed
the decision unjustified. They
said that Gujranwala would
lose its identity as city
owing to its
division
into four towns and
assigning their village like
names. The people of cities
were not
acquainted
with these names. They
suggested that theses towns should be
given names identical to
towns
of Karachi while other offices should preferably be
located in the city (A
news report)
·
If
you think the nazims have
been given a rough deal by the
provincial government under the
revised
devolution
plan, you can think again.
Councilors present at the seminar said it
was they who had
absolutely
no power or say in running of the local
government. Hardly any debates
took place over
any
issue
at the union council level, they said,
and all decisions were
taken by their nazims
without even
bothering
to consult them. If this is how the
current system has worked, then it
has been a case of
more
devolution of attitudes, as opposed to
that of power, from top
down. The one sitting at
top of
the
pyramid, the president in this case, is the
only one who has
any and all powers.
Here's what
happens
when the president chooses to devolve
those of his powers that he
considers a burden: the
second
person in charge, the PM, to be
precise, gets his taste of
some of the discarded powers.
And so
it
continues down the line, to
federal ministers, the CMs and
their cabinets until it dilutes
down to the
nazims,
who lie at the last tier,
exercising the dregs of the discarded
power. The UC councilors
found
at
the bottom of the pyramid merely act as
unwilling minions doing practically
nothing but drawing an
honorarium,
a respectable name for a
paltry monthly sum flung
their way. The only
one over whom
the
councilors have an edge are the
hapless public (Participants
in a seminar held in the
city
(Lahore)
by the NGO South Asian
Partnership evaluating the
three years of the working
of the
local
body system)
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·
If
interferences from federal government
don't stop then it (LG
system) would work as an
extension
of
the federal system. According to them the
recent amendments had
changed the spirit of the
system
authored
by NRB. One speaker said the
"Basic Democracies" system
introduced by General Ayub
Khan
collapsed with the end of
his 10 year dictatorship and no
one was talking about it. A
total of 114
amendments
have been made in the LGO as
compared to 17 amendments in the
constitution over the
last
32 years. The non confidence
procedures against the nazims
were highly criticized and
speakers
were
of the view that if a nazim
was elected by a simple
majority, he should be removed by
no-trust
motion,
through simple a majority.
New changes into the system
have vested all powers
with a chief
minister
to send any district nazim
home. The Local Government
Commission would work only
as a
rubber
stamp (Speakers
in a seminar organized by Aurat
Foundation Peshawar on
"Recent
amendments
into the LGO")
·
President
General Pervaiz Musharraf has promulgated
Police Order (Second
Amendment) Ordinance
2005,
which will come to force
with immediate effect. Under the
second amendment ordinance,
police
complaint
authority and public safety
commission have been combined
and named national
public
safety
and police complaint commission at the
national level, provincial safety at the
provincial level
and
district public safety and
police complaint commission at district
level. Public safety commission
will
also be set up in federal
capital. The district nazim
will be authorized to write only
report about the
performance
of DPO with reference to law
and order situation and a 5-part
pro forma is also
enclosed
with
the ordinance in this respect. It has
been introduced as performance evaluation
report of the head
of
district police. The district nazim
will have no power to write
annual confidential report of
the
DPO.
Local policing plan will be
evolved jointly by the DPO
and district nazim. The
DPO will
implement
this plan after approval from district public
safety and police complaints
commission (A
news
report)
·
District
governments could not properly
run some 417 colleges under
their control because
nazims
lacked
interest and experience.
"Most appointments, transfers and
postings had been made on
a
political
basis. Therefore, the government had
taken back powers of
appointing BS-19 officials in
the
colleges
from them (nazims)," Mr. Masood
told Dawn here on Friday. He
said the district government
could
not spend funds allocated
for the development of these colleges.
The district governments
used
to
spend funds allocated for the
colleges on other schemes to
win approval of voters, he added
(Mr.
Imran
Masood, Punjab Education
Minister)
One
can clearly see from the
above press items that the
reactions and experiences of
different stakeholders
regarding
devolution vary widely depending on
various factors and
situations.
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