Local government system

In a much welcome development, the PPP-led government in Sindh has finally reached an understanding with the MQM to keep the local government system, and not to revert to the old commissionerate system. The other three provinces though have already decided to do away with the local government system introduced by the Musharraf regime. Elections to this third, and vital, tier of government were due last year, but the provinces are still struggling to evolve a suitable replacement, while having revived the commissionerate system to fill-in the gap.
In fact, the PPP had also decided to follow the suit in Sindh. As presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar recalled while commenting on the fresh development, at one point the PPP had resolved to table the commissionerate bill in the provincial assembly after the MQM parted ways with the government. But with the MQM exerting pressure in the opposite direction, exigencies of coalition politics, once again, urged a change in course. The MQM's reason has been more practical than principled since it won in the last Karachi city government election, and based on its support in the city, it expects to win again.
The devolution plan introduced by the previous government under the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, may not have been perfect, but it did empower people at the grassroots level to a significant extent by giving local governments enhanced administrative and financial powers. Needless to say, since local governments are in direct touch with the people at the grassroots level, they are better placed than the provincial governments to deliver basic services such as health and sanitation facilities, schools, and roads, etc. They, therefore, can help also to address some of the issues concerning intra-provincial disparity in developmental spending.
Unfortunately, elected provincial governments have been reluctant to own the devolution plan. It is not just that General Musharraf introduced the legislation for our latest local bodies system (General Ayub Khan devised Basic Democracy in 1959 and General Ziual Haq inducted local government system in 1979) that the provincial governments find it so difficult to accept continuation of the system. They are wary of letting go of the powers they are so used to exercising through district commissioners, who traditionally enjoyed both magistracy and revenue collection authority.
That though, is not to say the other three provinces need to follow the example of Sindh. Any call for uniformity, in fact, would be in breach of the hard-earned provincial autonomy. What is desired is that instead of reverting to the old system, they revive local governments by fixing the flaws in the previous legislation and reinvigorating them so that communities at the grassroots level are empowered to undertake plans and projects for betterment.