LAHORE, May 19: District nazim Mian Amer Mahmood, who is considered an important member of the present set-up, enlisted on Saturday shortcomings in the local government system which he said were badly affecting it.
Speaking at a media workshop arranged by the National Reconstruction Bureau’s Media and Governance Cell here at a local hotel, he denied that the City District Government of Lahore had funded the May 12 rally of the president but justified the political role of nazims.
NRB member Naeemul Haq, who was the keynote speaker, also found faults with the implementation of the local government system and the Police Order 2002, indicating areas in which journalists could work to expose corruption and hurdles.
Mian Amer said local councils had been made subordinate to the provincial governments through recent amendments to the Local Government Ordinance. The system needed support from the upper tiers of the government which did not own it.
He said there was duality of administrative control (by the districts and the provincial government) in many areas like education. There was also no administrative linkage between the district governments, tehsils and union councils, which was rendering them unable to synchronise their actions.
These three tiers had representation on the District Mushawarat Committees but ironically their decisions were not binding on any of them. The responsibility of action was not clear which was making accountability difficult. “You cannot hold anyone accountable when it comes to education because it is being handled both by the districts and the provincial government,” the nazim said.
He demanded municipal police and magistracy for effective implementation of the local and special laws. Preventing adulteration was his priority area but he could not stop it because judicial courts handling it at the moment had not sent even a single violator to jail.
“Only one per cent population is affected by the crime handled by police and courts. But there is no mechanism to enforce the municipal laws which affect all people,” he lamented.
Mian Amer said the local councils lacked capacity and there was a need to improve the financial discipline. They were dependent on grants by the federal and provincial governments and could not generate revenue through taxation.
Replying to questions he said district nazim could impose Section 144 but interestingly the power to allow rallies was with the DCO. The nazim could not do anything if the DCO permitted a rally against his will, he said.
He said under the recent amendments, the local government secretary could recall budget of a district. This was done with Muzaffargarh district which was without its budget for the last one year, he said.
Mian Amer said district governments could not transfer or post any official because of the ban imposed by the provincial government. “This needs to be changed for allowing the district governments make adjustments according to their requirements,” he said.
He admitted that only one of the four Lahore police chiefs had come to him for his ACR (annual confidential report) in violation of the Police Order. Similarly, during his six years in office, he received only one annual police plan which was against the law.
He complained that the city had no public safety commission and said police did not listen to him when he tried to control riots against blasphemous cartoons in Lahore last year.
He said under a court ruling a candidate to local government elections could have office of a political party.
Earlier, he dilated upon achievements of the district government during the past six years. Army could not even eliminate ghost schools in the past. But the city district government had improved the education system by motivating people to adopt schools.
The nazim said the local government system was actually a political nursery for it taught people at the lower level. Other political parties could also develop their roots in masses by following the system, he said.
Mr Haq said the local government system and the new police order provided many areas in which local councils and police could be held responsible for their actions.
He said the devolution was meant for betterment of people through their participation.
He said a lot had been done to transfer powers from top to the lower levels of administration. Now progress was being made to change the patwari and police station culture to provide ultimate relief to people.
Mr Haq said several committees were also working on the transfer of federal government powers to the provinces which was the incomplete agenda of the overall devolution process.
He said under the system, local councils could not escape accountability. The role of Accountant-General of Pakistan was important in this regard and he had been asked to check accounts of the councils every year instead of four years.
He said the recent amendments to the local government ordinance provided for creation of district government service which had not as yet been created. This was an answer to the problem of posting, transfers and capacity building, he said.
Without dovetailing district government departments with the provincial government, the system could not fully deliver the goods.
Mr Haq said several world financial bodies were assessing Pakistan’s devolution model for implementing it in other under-developed countries. Indian officials too were coming here to study it, he said, adding the local governments had the real capacity to implement the government’s millennium development goal.