Challenges to upcoming Local Bodies
IT is promising to note that the government has begun holding Local Bodies elections in the country.
What is important is that the state should take some needed measures to make local bodies in the country both effective and efficient. Democracy cannot function efficiently in the absence of effective local bodies.
All developed democracies rely on powerful and effective local bodies to acquire political stability and socio-economic prosperity. But, local bodies in Pakistan, whenever they were established in the past, grappled with some obstructive issues, thus hindering these bodies to provide services to the people at the grassroots level.
Experience has shown that in comparison to federal and provincial governments, local bodies are more accessible, sympathetic and swift in responding to local needs. It is at the local level that citizens come in contact with governmental structures daily.
In a local democracy, necessary information is more readily available, and local authorities are more knowledgeable about a local situation than authorities that are far away from the grassroots level. It is also easier at the local level to hold officials and elected office-bearers accountable. These bodies are primarily calculated to further devolve power to the local level.
However, the ground realities in Pakistan made it crystal clear that the local bodies during the tenure of the last PML-N government were overwhelmed and dominated by some disruptive issues which were deeply entrenched in the exclusionary politics of the country.
First, MNAs and MPAs of the country are disinclined to transfer their burgeoning financial and administrative powers to the local bodies.
They are apprehensive that once the local bodies are firmly in place, they would be deprived of development funds and long-lasting sway over local communities.
That would create a conflict between the two as seen between 2001 and 2009 when there were repeated complaints of conflicts of interest between the district Nazims and the parliamentarians.
Thus, these provincial and federal lawmakers have been engaged in impeding both power and resources to be transferred to the local bodies.
Second, the national bureaucracy creates mounting problems for the local bodies. These unelected office bearers do not tolerate ‘uneducated and incompetent’ representatives sharing their power and resources with the local representatives.
The bureaucrats delayed consent to development projects envisioned by the local bodies in the past, thus discouraging local representatives from serving the people at the grassroots level.
Third, the lack of adequate financial resources at hand also hinders the constructive work of the local bodies. As seen in some districts of Balochistan between 2013 and 2017, most union councils didn’t do any development work due to the scarcity of plausible financial resources.
The basic democrats are likely to face similar issues given the non-participatory nature of the country’s fourth, local representatives in Pakistan are not afforded the requisite training for public management and administration, which is exclusive to bureaucrats.
Therefore, these minor politicians dismally failed to assess the nature of issues existing in their areas, inhibiting them from sorting out these local problems with sagacity. As a result, a large sum of development funds is misappropriated and misused at local levels without any benefit to the people.
Fifth, the public in the country is divided into those who tend to prefer personal interests and those who favour local or national interests. The former shows indifference to local bodies and their work which, therefore, provides the local representatives with an opportunity to use their offices for personal gains.
Lastly, local bodies were always plagued by the spectre of corruption. Corruption and nepotism have become so rampant in Pakistan that it is hard to make sure that administrative powers and state funds are judiciously used by the elected representatives at the local level.
In the absence of stringent checks and balances, the local bodies will further continue to misuse public resources and utilize them for their sectional and personal interests at the cost of the country’s larger interests.
The aforementioned hurdles existing in Pakistan instigate the people to further dislike and disown local bodies; increase loot and plunder of national resources by politicians and bureaucrats and cause a tug of war between the powerful bureaucracy and the local bodies.
It is high time requisite reforms were prudently crafted and immediately implemented for the sake of democratic growth in the country.
Both federal and provincial setups should plausibly decentralize power to the local bodies; equip them with the modern training of effective and efficient public administration; remove bureaucratic hurdles and create a friendly environment between the bureaucracy and the local bodies.
More importantly, the state should place a system of strict checks and balances against the corruption of local bodies.
—The writer is former senior researcher at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) and now an editor and commentator based in Karachi.
