SPEAKING to the First Constituent Assembly in 1947, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah outlined several duties for the government of Pakistan: maintain law and order, root out corruption, act against black marketeering, and not allow nepotism. Jinnah advised inclusive governments based on the rule of law, merit-based governance, religious freedom and equality of all citizens.

Seven decades later, it is evident that the parliamentary form of government as practised and direct military rule have failed to deliver the good governance envisioned by the founder. A major reason is that the prerequisites of parliamentary democracy were never put in place. Firstly, for any parliamentary governance to succeed, there must be considerable devolution of power and resources to administrative sub-units. The 18th Amendment introduced in 2010 devolved resources to the provinces, but not beyond this to districts or tehsils.

Secondly, members of the national and provincial assemblies have no incentive to let local bodies be elected, because development funds would then no longer be allocated to them and would go, instead, to district governments. Thirdly, the chief ministers also found it electorally beneficial to spend development funds on mega projects in the provincial capitals rather than cover the needs of the masses, especially in their provinces’ far-flung areas. Fourthly, the size of the provinces was never rationalised and remained too large to offer good governance at the grassroots level.

Since the prerequisites of parliamentary democracy were not put in place, the system in Pakistan has evolved more as a ‘game of thrones’ for the elites. Citizens’ welfare is not the main priority. Accordingly, over time, the governance system has moved away from its democratic essence and has been reduced to the process of electioneering, with repeated reports of legislators’ votes being bought and sold. Even state institutions and elements in the bureaucracy have fallen prey to politicisation, often finding it expedient to serve the agendas of their political masters rather than the citizens.

The system in Pakistan has evolved more as a ‘game of thrones’.

It is no wonder that the state is unable to look after Pakistan’s citizenry effectively. The country was ranked 161 out of 192 nations on the UN Human Development Index in 2022, and according to Unesco, 37 per cent of school-age children in Pakistan are unable to attend school. Poverty levels are rising, and Pakistan was ranked 99th out of 121 countries on the 2022 Global Hunger Index. These are alarming statistics. Pakistan must focus on human development if it wants to rise within the ranks of developed nations. This can only be done by empowering local communities, and not by doling out money or offering free meals. A resourceful and well-functioning local government system is the answer.

It is encouraging to see several segments of society promoting local governments. Dehleez is one such campaign. During the recently held Pakistan Governance Forum convened by the planning ministry, there were calls for empowering local governments. In his book Transforming Villages, Javed Malik builds a strong case for grassroots democracy to end rural poverty. Malik is concerned that local governments in Pakistan have remained fragile because the key players of the political and bureaucratic system have not let them function. He calls for treating villagers as partners in development and not as passive recipients.

Citing the participatory development experience of China and South Korea, he claims that the devolution of resources and power to local governments could “jump-start” human development and impro­­ve local economies, thus contributing to significant GDP growth. China’s ex­­perience is instructive because the country lifted 800 million of its citizens out of poverty by empowering local peoples’ congresses to address community needs.

It is of utmost importance that alongside devolving power and resources to the local government, effective checks and balances be put in place. The executive (mayors of tehsils or districts) should be elected directly and not be derived out of the legislature (district councils). The mayors should have full executive power while budgetary powers should be the elected councils’ exclusive domain.

Pakistanis did not evolve the parliamentary governance system. They inherited it from British India, which had constructed its edifice around elite classes to perpetuate colonial rule. In Pakistan, the system notoriously assumed the form of ‘government of the elite, by the elite, for the elite’. We must reform the parliamentary democracy model with a more people-centric approach. Effective local government is an imperative if we wish to strengthen human development and thus our position in the comity of nations.

The writer is a former foreign secretary of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2023