Governance challenges

When the PPP government decided to reverse the local government (LG) system, I was the biggest critic of that decision.

As a junior minister in the then PM Gilani’s cabinet, I raised my concerns and requested both the president and the prime minister not to overturn the LG system. In fact, I submitted a proposal for direct LG elections to elect tehsil mayors and devolution from districts to tehsils. My argument was that the 18th Amendment has solved a greater problem of provincial autonomy, which was the biggest loophole of the Musharraf era where provincial powers were devolved to the districts without central power devolution.

By abolishing the LG system, the PPP government made the mistake of devolving powers to provincial chief ministers without protecting districts from provincial cross-cutting on their powers. This resulted in the accumulation of too much financial and administrative power in the hands of the chief ministers. Post-18th Amendment, the provision of financial resources to the provinces is mind-boggling.

Since 2008, provinces have been transferred Rs13,453 billion. What does this mean in simpler terms? It means that in the last ten years, provincial CMs must be held responsible for Pakistan’s governance. In the absence of the LG system, provincial CMs acted as all-powerful crown princes and this system is continues to date.

In my view, there are six key areas that a common citizen may use to judge the performance of the government. These are: foreign policy, economic policy, law and order, education, health and municipal services. Now post-18th Amendment, only two areas – foreign policy and economy – rest with the federal government; all other key areas in essence belong to the provincial governments. So, the government in Islamabad is more of a symbolic government while the substance lies with the provinces.

Unfortunately, we see little effort in the media or academia to study and suggest reforms in the provincial governance structures. If we glance over the rules of business of the federal government and provincial governments, we see a stark difference; in the federal government, powers are fairly well spread between the PM Office and the ministries whereas in the provinces, the chief minister is an absolute monarch. The powers of the CMs get a further boost because of the lack of provincial legislation capacity and limitations of checks and balances in the provincial hierarchy.

We need to rethink this model: should we go back to the old model and reverse the 18th Amendment? Not at all. The new LG systems introduced in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are steps in the right direction – though personally I am a critic of the overstretched size of local government in both proposed systems. I think they will eventually fail the system. However, it is better to have something than nothing at all. Both Punjab and KP do provide directly elected tehsil mayors but breaking Union Councils and creating village councils is a huge mess, for which we will pay in the coming years. Sindh and Balochistan must consider following the footsteps of Punjab and KP and bring LG systems back on their feet.

At the same time, we must strive to develop a bureaucratic system for local government; the most important is to enhance the capabilities of the planning and works divisions. At the moment, we have two major issues: we have little money and we waste too much money. I may quote water supply schemes data as an example. As per the Pakistan Council of Water Research, 83 percent water supply schemes in Pakistan are actually supplying unsafe water to the citizens; same is the case with the education, health and road systems. Studies of projects lead to ill-planning and we see little efficacy.

Provincial governments’ rules of businesses need an overhaul, the posts of chief secretaries should be abolished and provinces should run on the Islamabad Model where every ministry is responsible for its functions. The powers of the CMs need to be rationalized; he is the captain of the team but considering his office as a one-man team is absolutely disastrous – the performance of the chief ministers of the last ten years is a testament to that very fact. Provincial assembly committees need revamping and must include professional inputs. Recently, the federal government approved a post of adviser to minister on a special pay scale; this system may be replicated in the provinces where an independent committee may appoint advisers to the technical ministries.

Reforms will never succeed if ministries are not reformed. The key to success is inter-ministry coordination as well as with the federal government. Governance reforms are a key for the future of the country but cannot be executed without initiating reforms in the provinces.

The writer is the minister for science and technology. Twitter: @fawadchaudhry