On-party basis

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/Jul2013-weekly/nos-28-07-2013/spr.htm#5

The three previous local government systems, installed by the un-elected military rulers, played a crucial role in prolonging their regimes and de-politicising people at grassroot level
By Khadim Hussain

To fulfill the core objective of a constitutional federal democracy, almost all the established democracies of the world have put in place three tiers of governance — federal, provincial and local tier.

This is because, as an expert would put it, we cannot realise the full benefit of democratic government unless we begin by the admission that all problems are not central problems. The results of problems not central require decision at the place and by the persons, who feel the problems most deeply.

Political scientists agree the objective of participation and representation of the common masses in state decision-making may remain un-realised if the third tier of governance is missing in the political system. Easy accessibility, responsive governance and sustainable development might be the outcomes of a genuine local government system.

Article 140-A (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan says, “each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local government”. This ensures empowerment of the people, which leads towards ownership of the state by common masses.

It is interesting to note that in Pakistan it was the non-elected usurpers of power who remained keen to install a system of local government. They wished to achieve two objectives from the elected local governments. First, they wanted to create a constituency that has stakes in the non-elected regime by having a semblance of participation and representation. In this case, the local government system would work as an ‘arm of bureaucracy’.

Second, they wanted to deprive political parties of their support base on the local level and divert the attention of the masses from the broader spectrum of policy-making in the country. It is precisely due to these reasons that political parties tend to shy away from holding local bodies polls whenever they are in power.

The first local government system was installed by General Muhammad Ayub Khan in 1959. The system was termed ‘basic democracies’ and elections for the purpose were held on non-party basis. The ‘basic democracies’ were later used by General Ayub to prolong his stay in power.

General Ziaul Haq followed his predecessor by promulgating Ordinance of Local Government in 1979. Elections to this system were also held on non-party basis. Both the systems had envisioned limited representation of the people at the local level because only a part of administrative responsibility was devolved to the local tier of governance without financial and political responsibility and authority.

The third local government system was put in place by General Musharraf in 2001. This system is distinguished from the earlier two systems as parts of the administrative, financial and political responsibility and authority were devolved to the local government in three layers — union, tehsil and district council. The District Management Group of bureaucracy was supposed to coordinate between the local government and the concerned departments. Elections to this system were also held on non-party basis. The union council Nazims, Tehsil Nazims and District Nazims under this system later facilitated referendum held by General Musharraf in 2002.

Leaving aside the theoretical constructs, all the previous three local government systems played a crucial role in prolonging the un-elected regimes besides de-politicisation of the people at grassroots level. This was effectively carried out by keeping political parties away from the local government system. As it is simply not a coincidence that all the three non-elected regimes held elections to local government on non-party basis, there seem to be three implications of holding non-party elections for any local government system in Pakistan.

First, people at the grassroots level are delinked from the broader spectrum of national policies and governance. They are tempted to remain engaged in the smaller spectrum and, consequently, lose sense of the implications of state’s policies regarding foreign affairs, security issues and defense. This creates a cadre that is unable to see through the connectivity of local, provincial and federal level statehood. Hence, a non-political local representative cadre amenable to be used for any policy that is formed at the central level and that has deep bearing on the lives of the people at the grassroots level.

Second, devoid of a larger narrative of a political party, people at the grassroots level get embroiled in more biradarism, sectarianism, and isolationism, and, hence, more polarisation at the grassroots level ensues. This is why instead of playing the role of nurseries for political workers, local government systems in Pakistan have been producing a cadre that is vulnerable to the temptations of more money and more power at the cost of democratisation of state and society. The omnipresent tendency of changing loyalties in Pakistani politics for power and pelf indicates this trend beyond any doubt.

Third, genuine devolution of political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority may not happen unless centralisation of power and governance is done away with as per principle. In the absence of political parties, it becomes easier for bureaucracy and political elite at the central and provincial level to manipulate and tamper with the basic principles of devolution. While, in principle, it is only political parties that have worked on coordinated and coherent development policies, absence of political parties in the local government system might result in sporadic and unsustainable grassroots level development.

Giving a little space of participation and governance to the people at the cost of genuine empowerment, responsive governance and sustainable development has been the prime objective of the establishment and political elite in Pakistan.

Political parties by virtue of being forums to accommodate voices of the common people to resist marginalisation and disenfranchisement must have a predominant role in policy-making, governance and development at the central, provincial and local tiers of governance.

The writer is a political analyst based in Peshawar.

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