KARACHI, April 2: There is a need for more funding, more accountability, more trained human resources and more power viz-a-viz the district governments, and an end to political interference in order to improve the functioning of the devolution system.
This was suggested by most of the district nazims and DCOs in a survey conducted by a government-sponsored organization.
A majority of the nazims and DCOs were of the view that they were not able to bring about improvement in services owing to the inadequate funding and resources, as well as lack of planning and monitoring. They also cited interference from outside the district and lack of powers and authority as hurdles in extending an improved service to people.
The Survey and Analysis Report-2005, prepared by the Community Information Empowerment and Training under a contract with the UNDP Pakistan as part of its Democratic Governance Programme, contains the views of those with the charge of making the new system work perfectly at the grassroots level, i.e. elected local representatives and the LG officials.
They highlighted improvement in specific services provided at different levels, but spoke of a system which could allow people more access to public representatives and more public support that had enabled them to bring about the improvement.
“It is not surprising to find difference of opinion between the elected representatives and the bureaucrats in some of districts, but they are working well together to make the system effective.”
However, as far as nazims are concerned, they believe that the main hindrance in improving services is the lack of funds and physical resources. They also count lack of coordination and cooperation within the district as a factor, coupled with the lack of well-qualified human resources, authority and control over services, and proper planning and monitoring.
Many of the nazims complained their allocation from the provincial finance commission was not enough while 51 out of 77 nazims said it was enough at least to cover their non-development expenditure in the district.
However, one third of the nazims said that the provincial government was helpful in service delivery in their districts while more than half complained of hindrance and interference on the part of the provincial government. Likewise, many nazims complained of problems in relation to postings and transfers. They maintained that the provincial government would create obstacles by delaying the required funds and sometime blocking the same even for the approved projects.
In 61 of the 86 districts surveyed, the DCOs said that the provincial government was helpful in delivering service effectively in the last two years. However, many of them complained of interference by the provincial government in postings and transfers.
Most of the nazims felt they had achieved ‘something’ during their tenure. Some of them said they had succeeded in carrying out more development work in their four-year tenure than the work done in 53 years in the past. By achievements, they meant uplift in education and road communication sectors. Some of them also mentioned governance and administrative improvement in this regard.
However, the nazims identified the services they had not been able to improve as the areas where they did not have authority to provide services, such as power supply, law and order and employment.
The report says, “Women’s participation remains a challenge and there is clear evidence of women’s continuing exclusion from many aspects even of household functioning.”
