Local government presentation

1. “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

2. (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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES &
O F
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

7. 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 affairs
enables central government to concentrate on higher level functions

8. 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.

9. 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)

10. 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.

11.  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’’

12.  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.

13. D I F F E R E N T L E V E L S
UNION GOVERNMENT TEHSIL GOVERNMENT DISTRICT GOVERNMENT

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. FUNCTIONS
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT

18. 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

19. - Spatial Planning and Construction Activities
- Fire Fighting & Rescue Services
- Roads & Transport
- Water Supply & Waste Management
- Entertainment Provision

20. (Citizen Participation)
ROLE OF CITIZENS
IN
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

21. 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.’’

22. 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

23. 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

24. ROLE
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
IN
NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

25. 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.

26. 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.

27.  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.

28. FINANCIAL AUTONOMY
IN
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

29. 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.

30. 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

31. PROBLEMS
OF
LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
IN
PAKISTAN

32. 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

33.  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

34. 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.

35. 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 .

36.  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.

37.  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.

38. THANK YOU…..!!!!!!