LAHORE – Former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shahbaz said on Friday that a fully empowered local government system, with constitutional protection for its tenure, could have largely eliminated the need for the current debate over new provinces.
He made these remarks during a meeting with a delegation of the Pakistan English Media Association (PEMA), which called on him to discuss issues ranging from media and local government to the debate over new provinces and the widening gap between the public and the provincial government.
The meeting was led by PEMA President Rameez Khan and attended by representatives of local and international English-language media outlets.
Hamza said that if the local government system were allowed to function effectively and with continuity of tenure similar to that of the National and Provincial Assemblies, there would have been little need to discuss the creation of new provinces.
He however, said any way forward on the issue of new provinces could only be found through dialogue among political parties. However, he maintained that political parties also needed to undertake some soul-searching over their failure to empower local governments.
“Every blame cannot be placed on the establishment. Political parties should also do some soul-searching. Did we do our part?” he asked, adding that even during the PML-N government, local governments were not empowered to the extent they should have been.
Hamza said civil servants often tried to convince sitting governments that empowered local governments would encroach upon the authority of provincial governments and strip them of their powers.
He argued that local governments should be given constitutional protection for their tenure so that no government could interfere with or prematurely dissolve them. He acknowledged that the PML-N government had also done little in this regard.
“A weak local government system will not be able to resolve public issues,” he said, stressing that a strong and empowered local government system was essential for addressing problems faced by the people.
Responding to a question about the growing gulf between voters and governments, Hamza said creating distance from party workers and voters marked the downfall of political parties. Political parties, he added, could only thrive when their bond with the people remained strong.
He also spoke highly of the English-language media, particularly the print press, for maintaining high standards of journalism. Despite the rise of electronic and social media, he said, English-language print media remained among the most credible sources of unbiased information.
Laying out his priorities, Hamza said his primary focus was to address the problems confronting the common man.
Those in attendance included PEMA General Secretary Ali Raza, senior journalists Mubashir Bukhari, Baber Dogar, Mubashir Hasan and Semiullah Randhawa. Hamza’s PSO, Imran Goraya, was also present.
