The history of local governance in Pakistan tells us that the Punjab Municipal Act of 1911 remained in practice from 1947 till 1959, but practically, this period remained inactive for local governance.
In 1959 General Ayub Khan introduced the Basic Democracies system through enactment of the Basic Democracies Ordinance. This ordinance was later abolished with the promulgation of the People’s Local Government Ordinance in 1972 by the PPP government. The PLG Ordinance was never implemented. General Ziaul Haq enacted the Local Government Ordinance of 1979 while General Pervez Musharraf introduced the Local Government Ordinance of 2001, which introduced devolution of power and decentralisation of authority.
Although LGO 2001 remained active till 2012 it was practically implemented only till 2010. The provincial government of the ANP and the PPP did not hold local bodies’ elections during their five-year rule; however, they enacted the Local Government Act of 2012 during the last year of their government. The 2012 Act revived the spirit of the 1979 ordinance and remained active for less than one year. In 2013, the coalition government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami Jamhuri Ittehad managed to pass the present Local Government Act 2013 in KP.
The new Local Government Act of 2013 draws considerably from LGO 2001 and is the product of in-depth consultations among senior government officials, retired bureaucrats, politicians and experts. The major shifts from the LGO 2001 are replacement of 986 Union Councils with 3,493 village/neighbourhood councils; introduction of around 42,000 (to be) elected members to the new councils; introduction of reserved seats for youth; giving representation to MPAs in the Local Government Commission (LGC) and Provincial Finance Commission (PFC); the local government minister becoming chairman of the LGC; representation of district and tehsil in the DDAC; reviving the posts of DC and AC and rationalisation of authorities at different levels; holding party based elections at the tehsil and district council level; only elected members to contest election for nazim and naib nazim of the tehsil and district council; and holding elections in the tehsil and district councils through open division to avoid floor crossing. Similarly, the tehsil level is responsible to take charge of municipal services while the district is to manage social services.
Introduction of village/neighbourhood councils is considered to be the most important aspect of the new system. Effective implementation of these institutions is considered vital for achieving improved local governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While local governance at the grassroots level remained the election slogan of the ruling party, it remains committed to the establishment of these councils with due spirit.
However, keeping in view experiences of the past decade and the existing economic situation of the province, establishment of such a large number of basic structures seems to be a tedious and costly job. During the previous system, three secretaries were committed to perform different jobs in the Union Council. However, over ten long years the government managed to provide only one secretary to each Union Council; the present requirement is three times more than that.
Holding free and fair elections using biometric machines that requires a considerable amount of human and financial resources and technical expertise. Constructing or renting office space for 3,493 village and neighbourhood councils, provision of furniture and equipment like computers, printers, fax machines and photocopiers is another gigantic task to be undertaken immediately after election.
For the new councils to be functional and effective, the government needs to develop rules according to law and provide those to the council for immediate implementation. The councils also need to be technically assisted to develop by-laws and have them approved for implementation.
In addition to physical infrastructure and legal requirements, the councils also require external support to enhance their capacity in performing their mandated role in a more effective and efficient manner.
Areas where the donors and the government need to initiate joint efforts include awareness of the community, elected representatives and concerned government officials about the mandate of different tiers of local government; motivation of the people for actively solving their own problems; active participation of people and potential candidates in the election process; performance monitoring of devolved and un-devolved government departments; provision of municipal services; settlement of local disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR); and taxes for strengthening local base of revenues.
Donor agencies, international NGOs and relevant departments of the provincial government have agreed to the Strategic Development Partnership Framework (SDPF) to plan and fund need-based development programmes in a coordinated manner so as to avoid duplication of efforts and wastage of resources – and to create greater impact. The creation of this forum is an indication that all the stakeholders are interested in collaborating with the government and to address local governance needs prioritised by the government.
However, as an immediate step the government should be facilitated through technical and financial assistance to identify and prioritise local needs across the province. This should be followed by developing a holistic plan and evolving an integrated implementation strategy.