“Internationalism is in any case hostile to democracy. The only purely popular government is local, and founded on local knowledge. The citizens can rule the city because they know the city.’’

― G.K. Chesterton

(Final Presentation)

L O C A L G O V E R N M E N T S Y S T E M O F

P A K I S T A N

GROUP MEMBERS:

• Muhammad Haris Bakhtiar Khan Niazi (Group Leader)

• Muhammad Zaid Abbasi

• Syed Noor-ul-Islam

• Shaban Sarwar

• Shehryar Mehmood

• Waseem Sarwar

• Shahwaiz Sheikh

• Ahmed Javed

• Muhammad Ammar Akram

W H A T

I S

L O C A L

G O V E R N M E N T?

An administrative body for a small

geographic area, such as a city, town,

county, or state.

Local governments can elect officials,

enact taxes, and do many other things that

a national government would do, just on a

smaller scale.

Further Explanation:

Local government is a form of public administration which exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state.

In federal states, 3rd or sometimes 4th tier whereas in unitary states, 2nd or 3rd tier of government, often with greater powers than higher-level administrative divisions.

The success of public administration and governance relies heavily on the extent of municipal autonomy.

The institutions of local government vary greatly between countries, and even where similar arrangements exist, the terminology often varies.

DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES &

O F

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

ADVANTAGES:

• Decentralization provides a framework which facilitates and increases local sustainable development throughout all regions of the country.

• Devolution represents the most effective means to decrease concentration of power at the centre, which is a salient feature of the existing governance model, and which is contrary to several basic features of good governance, e.g. openness, transparency, fairness.

• Local Government increases efficiency in determining service provision. In a decentralized, local system, citizens can influence decisions about service provisions through means which enable them to indicate the type, level & quality of services they desire, and the cost they are willing to pay for such services.

• Local Government facilitates a better solution of public affairs. The creation of strong local governments with the capacity to effectively manage local affairsenables central government to concentrate on higher level functions

DISADVANTAGES:

• Since different regions are different in terms of natural resources, level of economic activities, land values, etc so Inter-regional inequalities may increase, and thus widening intra-national poverty gaps and encouraging politically destabilizing forces.

• Local Administrations can bring higher risks of resource capture by local elites or special interest groups. Without adequate safeguards, there is a risk that powerful or well placed local elites may be able to capture the resources/powers allocated and use these resources/powers for their own benefit.

• A frequently advanced argument in support of centralization is that of limited financial resources. The reason of this argument is that particularly in relatively small states, they have limited resources and cannot allocate different budgets for different local administrations.

• Inadequate implementation arrangements can lead to disparity between the revenue available and the mandated responsibilities of local government, which could render them ineffective and/or bring them in disrepute.

HISTORY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN

The Pre-Independence period

Post Independence up to Ayub Khan

Ayub Khan’s Regime

Zia and Post Zia Period

New Devolution of Power Plan (Musharraf’s Plan)

INTRODUCTION OF L.G.S IN PAKISTAN (continued….)

The Ayub Period:

In 1958, Ayub Khan dissolved the government and established local

governments in the form of “Basic Democracies.”

BDs were used by Ayub to legitimize his essentially unitary new

Presidential Constitution (1962), which gave effective state power to the

armed forces through the office of the President.

The 1962 constitution linked the office of the President to the newly

created local bodies by declaring the 80,000 Basic Democrats as the

Electoral College for the election of the President and national and

provincial assemblies.

Zia and Post Zia Period:

After a nascent period under Bhutto, local governments

were revived by General Zia ul Haq in 1979-85.

Like Ayub , Zia combined political centralization at the federal level

with decentralization from the provincial to the local level in order to

legitimize his military regime.

Decentralization was achieved through the

promulgation of Local government ordinances (LGOs) and local

bodies were elected in all four provinces during 1979 and 1980.

’’The Basic Difference’’

The New Devolution of Power Plan:

Introduced by General Pervaiz Musharraf in January 2000. It was implemented in September 2001.

The Local Government was based on five ground rules:

Devolution of political power

Decentralization of administrative authority

De-concentration of management functions

Diffusion of the power – authority nexus and

Distribution of resources.

D I F F E R E N T L E V E L S

UNION GOVERNMENT TEHSIL GOVERNMENT DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

UNION GOVERNMENT

• The lowest tier, the Union Government was a corporate body covering the rural

as well as urban areas across the whole District.

• It consisted of Union Nazim, Naib Union Nazim and three Union Secretaries and

other auxiliary staff.

• The Union Nazim was the head of the Union Administration. The Union

Secretaries coordinated and facilitated in community development, functioning of

the Union Committees and delivery of municipal services under the supervision of

Union Nazim.

• In addition to the fiscal transfers from the Province, the Local Governments were

authorized to generate money from their own sources by levying certain taxes,

fees, user charges, etc.

TEHSIL GOVERNMENT

The middle tier, the Tehsil Government, had Tehsil municipal

administration headed by the Tehsil Nazim.

Tehsil municipal administration consisted of a Tehsil Nazim, Tehsil

municipal officer,Tehsil Officers, Chief Officers and other officials.

The tehsil municipal administration was entrusted with the functions of

administration, finances, and management of the offices of local government

and rural development, and numerous other subjects at the regional,

divisional, district, tehsil and lower levels.

DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

• The District Government consisted of the Zila Nazim and District Administration.

• The District Administration consisted of district offices including sub-offices at Tehsil level, who were to be responsible to the District Nazim assisted by the District Coordination Officer.

• The District Coordination Officer was appointed by the Provincial Government and was the coordinating head of the District Administration.

•The ZilaNazim was accountable to the people through the elected members of the Zila Council. A Zila Council consisted of all Union Nazims in the District. The Zila Council had a separate budget allocation.

•The District Government was responsible to the people and the Provincial Government for improvement of governance and delivery of services.

FUNCTIONS

OF

LOCAL

GOVERNMENT

FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT:

Promote the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of people

Education

Culture and Sports

Agriculture

Health Care

Social Welfare

Housing and Utilities

Maintenance of Infrastructure

Environmental Protection

Maintenance of Law & Order

- Spatial Planning and Construction Activities - Fire Fighting & Rescue Services

- Roads & Transport

- Water Supply & Waste Management

- Entertainment Provision

(Citizen Participation)

ROLE OF CITIZENS

IN

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Herald Laski says:

‘’We cannot realize the full benefit of democratic

government unless we begin by the admission that all

problems are not central problems and that the results of

problems not central; in their incidence require decision at

the place and by the persons where and by whom the

incidence is most deeply felt.’’

ROLE OF CITIZENS:

The participation of citizens in Local Government holds the key to its

success.

Since citizens are directly being affected by the decisions, policies,

plans or any step that the Local Government takes, so the involvement

of citizens is very important.

Citizens can show their participation in following ways:

• Full Cooperation with the Local Administration

• Citizens can show Social Participation

• Political Involvement

• Showing participation in Administrative Processes

Citizens can:

• Review the decisions of Local Authorities

• Form advisory committees to give advice

• Contribute to Local Revenue by paying taxes

• Maintain close coordination with Local Administration

• Contribute in Infrastructure Development

• Form Public-Private Partnership

ROLE

OF

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

IN

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ROLE OF L.G. IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

All over the world, the objective of achieving national

development is the pre-occupation of all national governments.

National development is the ability of a country(s) to improve on the

well -being of its people by providing social amenities such as,

quality education, affordable water, transportation, infrastructure,

medical care, security and creating a conducive political atmosphere

with the participation of citizenry etc.

The significance of the role that Local Government plays in National

Development cannot be over-looked. Since it works at a grass-root

level of society, it actually forms the basis for National Development.

Local Government contributes in National Development in following

ways:

Since Local Administration encourages Public Participation at the

highest level, a sense of national harmony, peace, unity is developed

across the nation.

Local Government plays an important part in economic

development of a nation. When government is present within

citizens’ reach and they believe that their tax money will be rightly

used, they contribute more & hence a country excels economically.

In general, public does not have easy access to government but in

case of Local Government, citizens feel that they can have a say in

how to run a government, so they participate more actively and

collectively. Hence, developing a nation socially.

Role of Local Government in Political Development

In local government the presence of provincial government at the citizen

level ensures that the writ of government exists at its full extent in every

area or region.

Local Government ensures job and business opportunities, thus

contributing to financial development.

In case of national crisis when government needs the support or opinion of

the citizens, local government makes sure that the voice of every citizen

reaches the government.

The main and most important part that local government plays is that it

decentralizes the power of federal and provincial government thus

eradicating any sense of deprivation among the citizens of small cities or

towns.

FINANCIAL AUTONOMY

IN

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

FINANCIAL AUTONOMY:

One way to measure local government financial autonomy is to compare its own revenues as a share of its total budget.

In the region, local government investments are the engine in the catch-up game of providing modern infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, solid waste management, street lighting and roads.

There are several factors that reduce the ability of local governments to raise revenues including the heavy concentration of the population in capital cities.

HOW TO ACHIEVE FINANCIAL AUTONOMY IN L.G

Increase Local Tax Net

Reduce/Discourage Urban Migration

Surcharge on Personal Income Tax

Formation of a Development Fund in which citizens contribute and

then those funds are used for their own betterment. This will lower

the burden on National Budget.

One cost-saving solution is inter-municipal cooperation, where small municipalities join forces to enjoy the same benefits as big cities. It can be used for capital investments such as roads, delivery of public services such as solid waste management, and organization of professional services

PROBLEMS

OF

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

IN

PAKISTAN

PROBLEMS:

Political parties do not believe in decentralization/local democracy

Constitutional and legal recognition for local democracy

Over centralized modal and mindset

Economic constraints and lack of infrastructure

Bureaucratic Hurdles

Un-elected intuitions are more powerful than representative parliament

Relatively weak role of parliament

Development funds to MNAs/MPAs and undermine the role of LG

Corruption in almost every sector

No Public Participation

Growing urbanization

COMPARISON WITH BRITISH L.G.S:

While we still struggle to set up the basis of local government in Pakistan, the British Government has evolved into a new era of Local Administration Empowerment.

The government is giving local councils more power to decide how to spend public money in their areas so they can meet local people’s needs.

At the same time, the government is helping to make sure Council Tax payers get value for money by making councils more transparent and accountable.

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS:

The first area for improvement is to divest the District Governments of the powers of

Law and Order, Revenue Record maintenance and Disaster Management. These

functions should be entrusted to District Coordination officer.

Executive magistracy should be restored.

The District Nazims should be elected directly by the voters rather than

indirectly by the Union Nazims. The political parties should be allowed to

contest the elections and nominate the candidates for all the offices at the Union,

Tehsil and District Government .

The demarcation of responsibilities between the Provincial and District Governments should be drawn more clearly and explicitly and the possible areas of ambiguity and overlap resolved upfront.

The Provincial Government should design policies, standards, procedures, rules, regulations and ensure their implementation by the Local Governments.

The Provincial Governments should supervise, monitor the activities , finances and outcomes of the local governments and have a transparent process in place that authorizes them to take action against violations committed by the local governments.

Audit and accountability processes have to be strengthened for this purpose.

The point of interaction between the citizens and the government functionary has to be manned by persons of competence, integrity and commitment.

There is an urgent need to change the Thana-Kutchery culture that symbolizes the government today. This model is outdated and completely out of sync with the rising expectations of the people.

The Community Citizens Boards (CCB)s) are a useful innovation to promote an all inclusive partnership between public, private sector and NGOs.

Given the poor access and quality of education and health in the rural areas of Pakistan the CCBs can supplement the efforts of the government departments in the planning, execution, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.

THANK YOU…..!!!!!!