LAHORE: The local councils in Punjab will merely act as constrained agencies of the provincial government, having limited revenue collection powers and offering only municipal services to people.

The councils, to be formed by the PML-N candidates as per the unofficial election results, will have to seek patronage of their party’s provincial government that is already centralised.

But despite being largely toothless, the present local councils system, has emerged after the introduction of 18th Amendment to the Constitution whose Article 140A (1) says that 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 governments.

This view has emerged after background interviews with the lawmakers and officials who are the key players in the new local council system.

But political economist Ali Cheema opposes the view. He says that the Supreme Court has in its decision in the Lahore signal-free case has interpreted Article 140A (1) differently.

“Yes the patronage of the government will matter for the local councils. But the strong mayors and chairmen of district councils will demand powers to keep their voters satisfied and maintaining the stronghold of the party at the grassroots level,” he says.

The key players in the system say that the local councils have nothing but local services to offer. These are not local governments which are governmental entities, having legal mandate and instruments to make and execute economic, developmental and welfare policies for the betterment of the electorate.

These local councils do not have any authority to form any policy for their areas of influence. They will merely act as municipal service agencies, having a centralised provincial system at their back. They will have limited sources of taxation or revenue collection.

After the system goes functional, Lahore Development Authority (LDA) will be beyond the control of the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore (MCL). The corporation will not also have any control over the city’s health and education systems.

In Lahore, commercialisation, which is the major function of the city district government, has been given to the LDA. Its other major functions of parking and solid waste management too are being handled by independent companies. Metro bus and the planned metro train are also out of its ambit, and Wasa is under LDA.

Apparently, the only functions left for the new corporation will be maintenance of small streets and removal of encroachments which looks hard in view of independence of police granted under the Police Order.

The health and education authorities will have representation of the local councils but their heads and chief executive officers will be appointed by the provincial government. The councils will not have any control even over dispensaries, small schools and libraries.

Under the new scheme of things, there will be a separate district administration system which looks frail in the absence of executive magistracy.

The key players say that the situation could have been somewhat different had the opposition managed to lead any local council in the province. In that case, they would approach courts for getting powers as per Article 140A(1) of the Constitution. Now, all the PML-N mayors and chairmen will follow the law and listen to the provincial government.

They say the corporations can make companies for their various functions. But it is yet to be seen how the existing waste management and parking companies will function. The corporations will consolidate the government under the present opposition-free scenario.

In order to strengthen the party, the government will have to extend its scope of patronage from the existing MPAs to local councils. “There will be hundreds of thousands of favour seekers which will be a problem for the government,” an official said.

Mr Cheema says the winners will help the PML-N provincial government strengthen its roots at the grassroots level. Previously, the winners used to work for the party without any office. The situation has emerged because of the opposition parties’ failure to prepare for the local elections. The PTI has particularly been exposed for failing to evolve an organisational infrastructure at the lower level, he says, adding the failure is a big question for democracy in Pakistan.

He criticised the PTI for wasting time and resources on raising “rigging” issue in general elections, almost ignoring the local government system and elections. It is required to do something for its organisation if it wants to contest the next general elections, he warns.

Mr Cheema says not all councils will remain satisfied with what they will get under the law. They will demand more from the government to face their voters.

The new mayors will not challenge the local government law but grumble about their functions under the law behind the curtain if not in the open, he says. They will become an effective machinery of the ruling party, demanding effective patronage that will, however, be different for different persons, he adds.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2015

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