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| November 25, 2005 | Friday | Shawwal 22, 1426 |
Poll delay adversely affects functioning of local govt bodies
KOHAT, Nov 24: Delay in setting a date for district and tehsil nazim elections has given the bureaucracy extended control over policy and decision-making affairs at the expense of elected representatives. According to local government rules, the district naib nazim summons the house as its convener and conducts its day-to-day affairs. But in this case the government has still not set the date for elections.
An election commission official when contacted said that although the government had sought names of presiding officers for the mayoral election in the district and tehsil, it had not yet fixed the date for the same.
The official said they had earlier expected the elections to be called either on Nov 15 or Nov 20. But, he said, it seemed that the National Reconstruction Bureau had not finalized new rules for the polls.
It has been learnt that according to the local government ordinance, the district nazim is empowered to summon the house and run it without the convener. But in fact due to the intense electioneering for the two important slots he could not do so.
Interestingly, a majority of a union council nazims and government officials who were asked to comment on this expressed their ignorance about the rule.
Meanwhile, the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE), which is responsible for the training of elected representatives and providing funds, has decided to sign MoUs with only those district nazims who agree to summon the house within a specified period.
On the other hand, the district and tehsil nazims unaware of their real responsibilities are conducting raids at hospitals and other government offices to make people aware about their existence.
No committees on education, health, sanitation, law and order, etc, could be formed due to the delay in the naib nazims’ elections.
Similarly, the district finance department and the tehsil municipal officers were still utilizing funds without waiting to consult public representatives who had already been administered oath of office.
Sultan Room Swati, operations manager, told Dawn on Thursday that in the second phase of their project the DTCE had selected Kohat, Karak and Bannu districts of the southern NWFP for distribution of funds and providing additional grant for community council boards but the main stumbling block was that the money could only be given when the district assembly was in session.
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