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Local Government Assignment
Local Government Assignment
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Page No. Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Devolution Plan By Pervaiz Musharraf 5 Musharrafs Seven Point Agenda 5 Five Fundamentals of Devolution Plan 6 5 Ds of Devolution 7 Objectives of the Devolution Plan 9 Features of the Devolution System 10 Issues and Challenges Faced in Implementation of the 11 Devolution Plan Recommendations 14 Conclusion 16 Personal View 17
CONTENTS
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ABSTRACT:
This article is meant for the fulfillment of the course work requirement for the Masters of Public Administration, as a mandatory component of LOCAL GOVERNMENT COURSE. The article focuses on the Devolution Plan presented by Pervaiz Musharraf in 2000. In 1999, Pervaiz Musharraf being the chief of army staff overthrew the government of the elected Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in a military coup and took over the administrative control of the country and imposed Martial Law for the fourth time in the history of Pakistan. This military regime introduced a plan which aimed at national reconstruction through devolution of powers and decentralization and establishing a local government system. This study is an overview of devolution in Pakistan introduced in 2001 with the election to local governments and promulgation of a local government ordinance. This study examines the existence of local government system in Pakistan and analyses the process of devolution by viewing its political, administrative, fiscal and development components. It highlights the challenges and issues faced in implementation of this plan and specify the extent to which its implementation succeeded in achieving the desired goals. Besides educational point of view, this article aims at providing an insight to what actually laid the foundation of this Devolution Plan, what were the objectives and how it played its role in success of Pakistan.
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INTRODUCTION:
Decentralization, or decentralizing governance, refers to the restructuring or reorganization of authority so that there is a system of co-responsibility between institutions of governance at the central, regional and local levels according to the principle of subsidiary (i.e. the local authorities will have the authority and responsibility to address all problems that are, in their determination, within their ability to solve), thus increasing the overall quality and effectiveness of the system of governance, while increasing the authority and capacities of sub-national levels. Devolution is a global phenomenon; it along with fiscal and administrative decentralization is the transfer of resources and power to lower level authorities, which are independent of higher levels of government and are somewhat democratic to a great extent. Countries across the world are adopting decentralization for two reasons basically: Maintenance of political stability More effective and efficient service delivery. Decentralization is expected to achieve higher economic efficiency, better accountability, and larger resource mobilization, lower cost of service provision and higher satisfaction of local preferences. According to this devolving resource allocation decisions to locally elected leaders can improve the match between the mix of services produced by the public sector and the preferences of the local population. Decentralization is expected to achieve higher economic efficiency, better accountability, and larger resource mobilization, lower cost of service provision and higher satisfaction of local preferences. According to this devolving resource allocation decisions to locally elected leaders can improve the match between the mix of services produced by the public sector and the preferences of the local population. Decentralization is thought to be particularly beneficial for rural development in disadvantaged jurisdictions. It usually entails a net transfer of fiscal resources from richer to poorer areas and leads to an increase in the quantity and quality of expenditures in these areas. Pakistans experiment in decentralization, termed devolution due perhaps to its political component, basically aims at bringing the abovementioned benefits to its population.
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Devolution of political power, Decentralization of administrative authority, Decentralization of management functions, Diffusion of the power-authority nexus and Distribution of resources to the district levels.
5 Ds OF DEVOLUTION PLAN
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This is known as Devolution Plan which was designed to meet the sincere aspirations of the people, to be self-governed and their rights could also be protected. It was expected that the new structure will create an empowering environment in which the communities could take part and the process of community participation in local government system would make the radical changes in the spectrum of national politics. The ultimate result of this plan was the promulgation of Local Government Ordinance 2000. The elections under this Local Government Ordinance 2000 were held in August 2001. The main feature of these elections was that they were contested on nonpartisan basis.
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Constraints to Work: The elected councilors did not belong to rich segment of the society hence delayed payments, stipends and transportation allowances hampered the speed and efficiency of work. Smooth working arrangements were not given much thought. Relationship between Three Tiers of Local Government: There is ambiguity in demarcation of roles between the three tiers of local government and distribution of development funds, which is creating confusion among the councilors thus leading to constrained relationships. Although the administration directly reports to the Councilors, many of them complain of helplessness in dealing with the bureaucracy. Relationship between Local, National & Provincial Governments: With the arrival of elected national & provincial governments, the civilian government announced development funds for the respective members without any consideration to the district governments. This was viewed as interference in the local government system and obviously created resentment for the local governments. An institution called the Local Government Commission (LGC) was to be established at provincial level as an oversight committee for the LGO on urgent basis. The purpose of the LGC was the resolution of disputes between districts, between provincial departments and district governments, or between District Nazims and District Ombudsman. However, these bodies established very late (2003) and did not perform the designated feature. Relationship between Councilors & Member Provincial Assemblies: The councilors especially at Union and Tehsil/Taluka level are under influence of MPAs which results in defeating the purpose of grass roots approach. Political Affiliations: Local Government Elections were held on non-party basis but the councilors elected had political affiliations and rivalry among the parties hampered the progress.
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Qualification Disjoint: There was a qualification disjoint between the literate and illiterate members, which hampered in smooth implementation of new system.
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
Although the local government system set up under the Devolution Plan has lost its significance today, the system could have been strengthened by considering the following set of recommendations: Government should have worked upon creating awareness amongst the people before implementation of this plan and before conducting local government elections in 2001. The government should have demonstrated the real political devolution by: Developing an acceptance level amongst the Provincial Governments regarding the Local Government Ordinance before implementing it fully. Holding local government elections on a party basis, with direct polls for district officials Refraining from imposing political discipline on local officials and misusing them for political ends such as partisan electioneering. The responsibilities and the roles of the elected members should have been clearly outlined with duties of each assigned in black and white. The mechanism of accountability should have been strong enough to restrict local Nazims and councilors from misusing their powers. District police should have been allocated more staff and resources. The overall mechanism of the flow of funds should have been smooth and unhampered. This would have maintained the motivation levels of the elected members. Devolution of fiscal and administrative powers to the local units should have been ensured by giving district government greater control over budgetary resources and increasing developmental allocations. Active involvement of the political government in the affairs of the local government should be avoided as this raises questions about the credibility of the system. Unless the state works at increasing the literacy rate the implementation of local government system could not be achieved.
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CONCLUSION:
The political ups and downs of Pakistan have marked the history of the country with a number of drawbacks. Country suffers greatly at the hand of political instability. Alternate democratic and military regimes give rise to uncertainty in the country. The policy makers and legislators have never really considered the nations well being as their prime objective. This insincerity has led to the current scenario where the country lacks any mature local government system essential to ensure success of the country. Each upcoming government puts aside all the initiatives of the previous regimes without considering their benefits for the overall societal betterment. This practice is the major reason behind the lack of political maturity within the country.
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PERSONAL VIEW:
It was claimed that the main objective of the introduction of this plan was to establish a true local democracy however, in reality it was aimed at legitimizing the military regime and to earn survival through winning the hearts of the people. It also gave birth to an idea amongst people that this devolution of power from federal unit to local level was an attempt to gain control over local units. Thus it was believed to be an under covered form of centralized administrative control with a label of devolution of power. The significance of local government system and devolution of power to the grass root level could not be undermined at any point. Currently local government systems prevail throughout almost all of the developed countries. One could rightly say that democracy in its true sense could not be achieved without the establishment of local government system. The local government system plays significant role in equipping people with handful of knowledge, experience and skills required for learning the lesson of governance. They are trained to handle affairs at higher levels. Through devolution of power people at local level get a chance to indulge in decision making. Their participation in governance increases and this bridges the gap between the government and the local people. The failure of the devolution plan of 2000 mainly contributes to the low levels of acceptance. The process of implementation of this plan underwent a lot of regression from the civil society. It was believed to be a mere attempt of providing a legitimized access of military powers to the local units so that the civil opponents of this regime could be displaced. If this decentralization of powers had been introduced with positive motives and the real essence of local government system had been considered while its implementation, this could have proved to be a milestone towards the success of the country.
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