Local Government in Punjab: For Better or Worse

Punjab is gearing up for local government elections and the process of

demarcation of boundaries has already started. Earlier this year, the Punjab
Local Government Act (PLGA) 2019 was passed. The new statute has
created five types of local governments. On the rural side, the law has
replaced the district and union councils with the new tier of tehsil councils.
On the urban side, there will be nine metropolitan corporations instead of
one. For smaller urban settlements there will be municipal corporations,
municipal committees and town committees.

But are we finally moving towards an effective and well-functioning local

government system?

Let’s compare PLGA 2019 with the 2013 law in terms of representation,
powers and resources.

The PLGA 2019 is definitely more representative than the preceding law.
The heads of local governments will be elected directly, minimising
electoral manoeuvring or election of non-elected members as mayors, as
has happened in the previous regime. The newly introduced cabinets will
promote shared decision-making. And in institutions like the Punjab Local
Government Commission and Finance Commission, the opposition has
been given equal representation.

The 2013 law might have conferred more powers to local governments with
devolution of health and education, yet these functions remained within the
provincial control through administratively managed authorities. The
PLGA 2019 has, however, brought the management of schools directly
under the local governments. Moreover, the longstanding issue of
overlapping jurisdiction has been addressed with development authorities,
WASAs and other civic bodies now falling under the local government’s
purview, further empowering them.
In terms of resource provision, there might not be much difference between
the two statutes. But the PLGA 2019 has introduced the concept of
performance-based criteria for a financial award. If done right, this could
have a direct bearing on the quality of service delivery.

All in all, the law may not be as ambitious as the district government
system of 2001 but is still an improved version of the 2013 act.

But is it sufficient to make the local governments work?

Despite having four laws and eight elections since 1979, we still aren’t clear
how a local government should run. Billions of taxpayers’ money have gone
into these failed experiments designed on the foundation of political
acrimony, vested interests and power struggles.

Let’s face it: for a local government system to be successful, political

consensus is far more important than the degree of decentralisation,
inclusion or civic participation. Even the best of systems will deliver
nothing if they are not given the chance to run. But a flawed system can be
gradually rectified if it sustains. With a highly charged and polarised
political environment, can the PLGA 2019 stand the test of a regime
change?

It is interesting to note that during the last forty years, the local
governments functioned for 10 out of 12 years of military rule, all 6 years of
civil rule under a uniformed president but only 9 out of 22 years of
complete civil rule. Notwithstanding the fact that military-led governments
used local governments to create an alternative political base, the political
parties cannot be absolved of their responsibility to not let the grassroots
democracy prosper.

For the PTI, the real test will come with the opposition winning a few large
local governments. With direct elections of mayors, it is not merely a
possibility but a certainty. Will these opposition-led local governments be
allowed to run smoothly and operate with autonomy? This is where most of
the past governments had failed.

Whether the PTI will be any different is yet to be seen but the fact that local
governments in this country have only flourished under military rule serves
as a sobering reminder of our weak democratic values.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2019.