Mayor Mardan Hamayatullah Mayar has written an open letter to the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) highlighting the issue of local government inactivity and powerlessness, leading to a lack of authority, funds, and nonproductiveness of the local bodies. The mayor alleged that the PTI government in KP amended the local government act and paralyzed the Local bodies financially and administratively. Mayar pointed out the rescinding of administrative and financial powers of nine social service departments from the district and tehsil administrations, effectively dismantling the system at the district and tehsil levels. Mayar accused the judiciary of being swayed by the provincial authorities, delaying or dismissing cases filed by the public representatives against the provincial government for the restoration of the genuine architecture and real soul of the local bodies system.
The local bodies could not take root in Pakistan’s political system, and diverse experiments of past rulers from President Ayub’s Basic Democracy to General Zia’s local body governments, from President Musharraf’s devolution of powers to Municipalities to current day rebirth of the British era’s Petwars and Tahsildar rule by the so-called political champions, all such endeavors stopped short of fulfilling public demands over the past seven and a half decades. Multiple efforts failed to bring the desired results largely due to the prejudice and impaired application of those systems by politicians and bureaucracy. At the time, no local government was functional in any of the federating units and the Federal capital because no party from across the political spectrum intended to decentralize the power and devolve authority due to its vested political interests. Meanwhile, each party has its view and appreciation of the 18th Amendment and Article 140-A of the Constitution. Henceforth, democratically elected public leaders obstruct the devolution of power to the grassroots level and resist the local bodies’ autonomy, contrary to the essence of democracy and service delivery to the public.
Awfully, the letter authored by Mayor Mardan is a true portrait parle of Pakistan’s local government system and a scathing critique of judicial neglect and governmental apathy, with multiple references to petitions filed against the provincial government including those by Mayar himself and numerous other local bodies elected officials waiting for handing over of authority and funds over the past few years. Historically, the PTI government in KP made amendments to the KP Local Government (Amendment) Act 2019 and revoked Section 30(2)(b) which reduced the powers of local governments and put curbs on grants to local governments through the NFC award respectively. Meanwhile, similar policies were implemented by other provincial governments in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and GB while transferring that authority and grants to MPAs to further their political agenda instead of nation-building and service delivery to the public. Meanwhile, the inaction of the judiciary in addressing complaints of the public leaders further complicated the situation and eroded public interests in the institutions.
Historically, the local bodies and their service delivery had always been a concern for major political parties due to their malignant intent regarding the vote bank and political influence at the constituency level. Political parties perceive local bodies as a breeding ground for their political influence and each party intends to instate its workers in lucrative positions so both party and leader improve their image through public work on public expenses. Thus, all political parties are wary of the non-political local government system which is undoubtedly most suitable for grass route growth but fatal for the vested interests of Political groups without any exception.
No political party ever voiced in support of such a local government system that empowers the masses and fulfills their needs to the optimum level, rather feudal politics always upheld its communal interest and tried to slash the powers and curb funding to the local governments. There is a genuine need for the devolution of power and strengthening of local bodies so the people can benefit from the true dividends of democracy in this country. Presently, Mayor Mardan has raised the issue at the national level, hopefully, this endeavor might end prevailing political antagonism and pave the way for the onset of grass route level democracy in the country.
