KARACHI: A strong local government is needed to redress grievances of all the communities living in Sindh as the present system have many flaws, which needed to be rectified, said a researcher Dr Niaz Murtaza, Executive Director of Progressive Ideas to Re-Inform Governance Pakistan (INSPIRE) here Tuesday.
He was speaking at the launching ceremony of a research report "Undermining Local Governance: A Review of the Sindh Local Government (LG) System, 2013" conducted by Dr Niaz Murtaza and Dr Saeed Ahmed Rid, Quaid-e-Azam University at PMA House here. The launching ceremony was jointly organized by INSPIRE Pakistan and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER).
Dr Murtaza said that the tenure of current local government system in Sindh needs extension to five years instead of the present four years.
The research study conducted in Karachi and Shikarpur in Sindh reveals that many key functions have been re-assigned to the province in the 2013 LG system, like police, major local development activities and buildings control. City development authorities have not been placed under elected the LGs so all divisible local services should be re-assigned to local governments.
Dr Murtaza said for a comparison, the researchers saw the local government systems of Mumbai and New York. "We were disappointed to see the Mumbai's system, however the local governance system of New York is quite good.
He said the powers of Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) seem limited for the biggest LG body in Sindh. Some key LG functions do not fall under the purview of the KMC, for example, health, education, environment, overall development, security etc. Some of the functions included under its domain are control of stray dogs, brick kilns and cattle colonies seem trivial for it and more appropriate for UCs. The scope of powers of the KMC must be revisited so that all key LG functions for Karachi fall under its purview.
Neither the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 nor Pakistan's Constitution mandates immediate re-elections for the local bodies within a stipulated period in case of completion of term or early dissolution. Therefore, the Act must be modified to mandate holding of LG elections within 90 days, he said.
He pointed out that a single-tiered system appears problematic for towns. Towns with up to 50,000 persons may need help from a higher LG authority to undertake complex tasks while towns with up to 300,000 persons may need Union Committees. This issue too should be re-analyzed with the active participation of key stakeholders before the next elections based on the performance of the current system.—NNI
