KARACHI: Accusing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of occupying parks, playgrounds and storm-water drains, the Pakistan Peoples Party on Sunday advised Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar to read the Sindh Local Government Act and see that cleanliness and garbage lifting was not the responsibility of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

Speaking at a press conference, Senator Saeed Ghani, the secretary general of the PPP’s Karachi chapter, asked the mayor to work for the betterment of the city instead of criticising the Sindh government just to cover up his own incompetence.

The event was called to announce joining of several political activists, including those from the MQM, Pak Sarzameen Party and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, but the focus of Senator Ghani was rebutting the allegations levelled by the Karachi mayor and his party, the MQM.

Only on Friday, Mayor Akhtar had announced that he would approach the Supreme Court to get the elected local government representatives the power they deserved, as the federal and Sindh governments neither provided required resources nor did they support the local bodies in cleanliness and garbage-lifting work.

Accompanied by PPP leaders Waqar Mehdi and Rashid Rabbani, he claimed that the MQM demanded that powers be devolved at the lowest level. “We have given them powers, established the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board for their help, but we should see whether the MQM [controlled local government] is effectively working within the available recourses and powers or not.”

He said the Karachi mayor did not know that the cleanliness and sanitation in the metropolis was not the responsibility of the KMC as this was the job of the district municipal corporations (DMCs). “Construction of roads is the job of the local government representatives but this is also being carried out by the Sindh government.”

Referring to Mr Akhtar’s press conference in which he also talked about removal of encroachments from the Gujjar Nalla, the PPP leader said it was the MQM which occupied parks, grounds and storm drains.

He said the MQM got appointed “44,000 ghost employees” in local government institutions. “These ghost employees do not perform their duties but work for the MQM’s public meetings,” he remarked.

He said the Sindh government did not want to leave thousands of employees jobless.

Answering a question, he said that no other mayor or chairman of district council across the province had the issue of powers.

“We do not want to make him [Karachi mayor] a hero by bringing a no-confidence motion against him,” he said, adding: “The mayor should perform his duties instead of hiding his incompetence.”

Mr Mehdi said on the occasion that the MQM would be held accountable for the Rs300 billion development funds they got during former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s rule.

Earlier, Senator Ghani welcomed those who joined the PPP. He said that the PPP would emerge as the single-largest party in Karachi in the 2018 general election.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017