EDITORIAL: “Without functional and empowered local governments [LGs], Pakistan’s democratic dream remains incomplete,” so declared opinion leaders from various walks of life at a recent book launch on “Local Government: Foundation of Democratic System” at Islamabad’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
Unfortunately, the idea of devolution of power to the grassroots and making social services both responsive and accessible to the public never sat well with our political elites. All the elected provincial governments had been reluctant to hold LG polls until the Supreme Court intervened, ordering strict compliance with the relevant constitutional provision.
Yet, efforts to institutionalise and empower these bodies keep getting undermined through political and administrative measures.**
At present Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have up and running LGs, though sans the necessary administrative and financial powers.
Notably, the law calls on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections within 120 days of the expiry of outgoing local bodies’ terms in a province, cantonment, or the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
The term of these bodies in Punjab expired on December 31, 2021; and that of ICT on February 14 of the same year.
Four years on, authorities both in Islamabad and Lahore show no sign of holding the elections they have kept delaying on one pretext or the other, with the ECP playing along. In fact, they are unlikely to go for the LG polls in the foreseeable future for fear of losing to the main opposition party, the PTI.
Although the other provinces have fulfilled this legal formality, they stay persistent on controlling political and administrative powers from top to down.
All political parties ruling in the provinces zealously guard the autonomy the 18th Amendment grants them, but refuse to cede or even share power with the people’s representatives at the grassroots level.
LGs lack the ability to raise their own revenue, and hence are heavily dependent on allocations made by provincial authorities. That leaves them without resources for addressing local needs, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc., at local level. Thus is effectively being negated the very purpose of local governments.
As noted earlier, inordinate delays in holding elections, almost always due to political considerations, deprive citizens of the right to participate in grassroots democracy and seek redress of local problems at the local level. It is imperative therefore that civil society groups play a beneficial role in this regard, ensuring schedule for LG elections in Punjab and ICT is announced without any further ifs and buts.
And the provincial governments ought to be pressed not only to decentralise administrative powers but also replicate the National Finance Commission resource distribution formula at the third tier of government, failing which participatory development dream will remain unfulfilled.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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