KARACHI: City govt, ministers jostle for influence
By Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, Feb 27: The future of new local government setup appears to be in jeopardy as sharp differences have cropped up between the members of the Sindh cabinet and the City Nazim/heads of the city’s 18 town administrations over the local government’s powers.
Although major differences among them are a result of their diverse political affiliations, the sources said the other cause of discord between the Nazims and the Sindh cabinet members is the former’s role in development activities, the authority they command to recruit people and make transfers and postings in those organizations which were earlier part of the Sindh government but have now been merged with the city/district governments under the devolution plan.
In support of their contention, the sources said a maximum number of jobs would be provided in the education department and the provincial minister for education, Irfanullah Marwat, is from the Sindh Democratic Alliance, whereas all government schools and colleges of Karachi, except for professional colleges, come under the control of the city government whose Nazim Naimatullah Khan belongs to the Jamaat-i- Islami.
Similarly, a number of local bodies organizations, such as KDA, MDA, LDA, KBCA, KBCA, which earlier were under the control of the Sindh government have now been devolved to the city government.
“The question is, where the provincial minister for local government, Mohammad Hussain, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, will exercise his powers or authority when all these departments are now functioning under the umbrella of the city district government,” remarked a senior official of the local government department.
With a view to sorting out differences, the Sindh government has formed a task force to formulate recommendations for bringing changes to the SLGO-2001 and such an exercise is reportedly aimed at monitoring the working of the Nazims and maintaining an effective check-and-balance.
But to the utter surprise of many, the task force which has been assigned the task of bringing changes to the SLGO has no Nazim as its member. The Nazims had been running the new local government system for the past 17 months. The task force is headed by the Sindh chief minister, and the minister for local government is its deputy chairman while the ministers for finance and law and the secretary local government and the Sindh governor are its members.
The Sindh government has, however, recommended setting up of development committees in each district of the province and the committees will comprise MNAs, MPAs and district Nazims.
The local government’s devolution plan, introduced in the country by President General Pervez Musharraf after a strenuous exercise undertaken by the National Reconstruction Bureau, took shape on August 14, 2001, following the promulgation of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance-2001 by the former Sindh governor, Mohammedmian Soomro. It gave birth to the city district government and town municipal administrations in Karachi after doing away with the century-old system of local government and the district management group.
Not only the KMC, KDA, MDA, LDA, but several other departments of the Sindh government were merged with the city government and 18 town administrations were created as against five DMCs for performing civic functions, such as road repair/carpeting, maintenance and cleanliness of storm-water drains, sanitation, provision of streetlights, etc., in their respective jurisdictions.
The city government, headed by the city Nazim, was assigned a major role in the development of the metropolis. Besides, a number of key departments of the Sindh government were given under the umbrella of the city government.
Some of the Sindh government departments, with their employees, were merged with the city government. They are: education department, mass transit, transport, culture, property tax department, officials of district management group, investment promotion and over 200 dispensaries.
Some other departments, including Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority, forest, fisheries, cooperative housing societies, labour, civil defence, were also to be merged with the city government, that part of the plan has not yet been implemented.
Although the SLGO-2001 also envisages merger of the KWSB, KBCA and Sindh Katchi Abadis Department with the city government, the KWSB and the KBCA have been given under the control of the city government half-heartedly. For instance, while the KBCA has been devolved to the city government, the chief controller of buildings has been notified as chief executive of the organization, reducing the city Nazim to only a ceremonial head.
Similarly, the KWSB, through a notification, was made water and sanitation department of the city government after being devolved to the latter. The post of the defunct KWSB’s managing director was redesignated as executive district officer (EDO) and its chief engineers were to be called district officers.
As envisaged under the SLGO-2001, the city police department has also been devolved to the city government only to the extent that the city police department and its chief officer have been made answerable to the city Nazim with regard to the city’s law and order situation.
For this purpose, the city Nazim has set up a three-member committee under the chairmanship of Naib Nazim and it comprises the police chief and DCO Karachi as its members. The committee seldom meets to discuss the performance of the police department.
The control of the city government over its so-called police department could be gauged from the fact that whenever the city government’s 146-member strong council invited the city police chief or any other senior officer to its session to discuss and explain the law and order situation in the city, they often chose not to attend it on one pretext or the other.
