The devolution of power to the lower levels offered in the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 had not been witnessed in the past local bodies systems, Punjab Minister for Law and Local Bodies Rana Sanaullah said.
The Act stipulates setting up of the district education authority having powers equal to secretary education, Sanaullah said giving an example of the planned devolution process.
The minster was expressing his views at the Express Forum held to discuss the Punjab Local Government Act 2013.
“The Act is not a holy book written by angels. I don’t claim that it is completely perfect. There might be some lacunas in the Act that can be addressed with the passage of time,” the provincial law minister said.
“We have incorporated a clause in the Act to facilitate amendments,” he added.
Taking exception to the 2001 local bodies’ system of the Musharaf regime, Sanaullah said that if it was a better formula, why have the condition of towns not improved.
The transfer of power to the grassroots level as envisaged in the 2001 system led to widespread corruption. The town nazims leased out prime location real estate. Even the areas reserved for graveyards were given away, Sanaullah said.
No town nazim of Musharraf era has won the recent elections, he said speaking at the Express Forum hosted by Khalid Qayum. The panellists included Afzal Talib, Shams Qazafi, and Shahzad Amjad.
Other speakers included Ejaz Chaudhry, Punjab chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Barrister Fawad Hashmi, ex-PM’s adviser, Najmi Saleem of All Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance and Anwer Husain, director of Local Government Councils’ Association.
Ejaz Chaudhry said the municipal bodies are nurseries of democracy. The constitution demands devolution of authority – financial, administrative and political – to lower levels but the PML-N’s local government act offers none of these.
He said that the Act vests all powers in the provincial government of Punjab. “Holding local bodies’ elections on non-party basis is against the manifesto of PML-N,” he said.
Barrister Hashmi said that Punjab government has taken a positive step by reducing the number of union council representatives.
However, he said that the Punjab government was not transferring powers to the districts. The provincial government seems more interested in keeping all powers within a few hands.
Referring to the right to levy and collect taxes he said that without financial authority the local government system was bound to fail.
“Every metropolitan city in the world collects tax and spends it,” he pointed out.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2013.