EDITORIAL: The Punjab cabinet has approved a new Local Government Bill, 2022. All provisions of the Local Government Act, 2019, enacted by the previous government which was later superseded by the Local Government Ordinance 2021, have been scrapped and replaced with fresh ones.
Among the proposed legislation’s structural measures are nine metropolitan corporations to be established in five large cities and four divisional headquarters, while 14 fast growing cities are to have municipal corporations. And town administrations will take care of basic municipal services in five major cities: Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Multan.
Some of the other significant features of the bill include enhancement of women’s reserved seats as well as quota for representation of the youth. More importantly, 10 subjects encompassing primary health, primary education, social welfare, family planning, sports, transport, civil defence, public health, arts and culture and tourism are to be devolved to district level.
And like chief ministers, heads of local governments (LGs) will have the right to select senior administrative officers from a panel (of three). Besides, all recruitments are to take place through the Punjab Public Service Commission in a competitive and transparent manner. This should strengthen the administrative capacity of LGs.
Heads of these bodies will form cabinets, one-third of which is to comprise technocrats/subject specialists. And, ostensibly, to increase efficiency, there will be Punjab Local Government Commission to offer guidance, settle disputes, remove hurdles in the function of LGs, conduct audits and inquiries and take cognizance of violations of laws. It is unclear, though, whether the commission is to be independent or answerable to the provincial government, in which case it could be used for arm-twisting of recalcitrant district authorities.
Missing from these details — unless overlooked by some press reports — are two major issues. The first and foremost is about financial independence, without which LGs cannot become truly empowered. A simple and principled way forward is to replicate the National Finance Commission formula for resource distribution to the third tier of government.
The other is that the bill does not state whether or not elections to these bodies at all levels are to be held on party basis. If not that can easily open the door for the government to manipulate them to protect and promote its own interests.
The bill in its present form will easily sail through the parallel provincial legislature being run by the present government. But its legal status is being challenged in courts. Meanwhile, LGs elections — inordinately delayed by the previous government — are already running late.
As per the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification, the first phase of the polls in Punjab was to start last April. They are likely to be held in the next few months under a new law. Unless the legality question is resolved before then, that could also create controversy about the new LGs as well.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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