Good governance

For quite some time, the demand for the creation of more provinces keeps resonating in the country. There are demands for the creation of a new South Punjab province, restoration of the state of Bahawalpur, carving out the Hazara province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and making Karachi a separate governing unit.

Arguments in favour of the creation of more provinces usually talk about poor governance and lack of development in these areas and their distance from their respective provincial capitals.

In the present scenario, the move by the PTI for the creation of a South Punjab province and a pending bill in parliament, introduced by the PML-N for the creation of the provinces of South Punjab and Bahawalpur should be revisited. Such moves imply as if politicians and their respective political parties are trying to exploit the political ambience for their narrow political ends.

The approval for carving out new provinces from the existing provinces requires a two-thirds majority in the respective provincial assemblies as well as a nod from parliament, which seems a distant possibility in view of the constant disagreements between the opposition and the government.

Even if by any chance the parties concerned agree to this proposal, the creation of new provinces under the present system of governance and the existing mode of choosing representatives on the basis of a single constituency is not going to resolve the real issues. This would lead to the creation of more centres of power to the advantage of the elitist class and feudal lords belonging to these areas, allowing them to become self-appointed new rulers.

The real issue is ‘good governance’. The successive governments have failed to deliver to the people mainly because of the archaic colonial system of governance, which doesn’t have strong controls against graft and entitlement. The solution lies in two things: first, the establishment of local governments in compliance with Article 140A of the constitution, and, second, changing the way we elect our representatives.

Our constitution stipulates a three-tier system of governance comprising local, provincial and federal governments. Local bodies are meant to deliver to the people at the grassroots level and, according to Article 140A, are supposed to enjoy almost plenipotentiary powers with regard to running the affairs of their respective territorial domains. Article 140A says, “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.”

Under this article, the local administration, including the police sector, is supposed to be under elected representatives at the district level, who are responsible for overseeing the administration, besides carrying out development projects and generating financial resources of their own. Bringing the police under control of the local government can greatly help eliminate ‘thana culture’.

Unfortunately, the country never had a local government system in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. The successive governments showed criminal reluctance to fulfill this constitutional requirement. The local bodies that were set up in the country after the orders of the Supreme Court were the negation of Article 140A as the administrative and policing responsibilities were never devolved to them. Even their role in development was limited. Funds were allocated to MNAs and MPAs. The local bodies system introduced by the PTI in KP and in Punjab represents some improvement in the system as far as the role of the local government in the development of their respective areas and the finances are concerned, but it is still bereft of financial and administrative powers stipulated by the constitution.

It is perhaps pertinent to mention that Imran Khan while presenting his radical agenda in the public rally at Iqbal Park Lahore in 2011 promised to have SHOs elected like sheriffs in Western countries, a pledge he seems to have forgotten.

The people do not need more provinces on an administrative or ethno-linguistic basis. They want and need their problems to be resolved at the local level, which can be done only through strengthening the local government as per the constitution and the implementation of the 18th Amendment in letter and spirit. It is therefore incumbent upon the political parties to shun their traditional politics of making false promises and take steps to resolve the people’s problems through improved governance. As far as providing speedy justice is concerned, it can be done through setting up high court benches at every district headquarters and separating the judiciary from the administration in line with Article 175(3).

At the national level, it is essential to break the hold of the elite class and feudal lords on political power. It can only be done by changing the present system of electing our MNAs and MPAs. In the single constituency system, only wealthy people can contest elections, and instead of party leaders, the real power rests with so-called electables, who play a pivotal role in the smooth operation of regimes. Since a majority of constituencies are in rural and tribal areas, the prevalent system strengthens the hold of feudal lords or the elitist class, belonging to urban areas which have a common interest in holding on to the archaic colonial system of governance.

The best way to break the hold of feudal lords and the rich on political power is to adopt the system of proportional representation for electing our parliamentarians. Under this system, people will vote for parties instead of individual candidates in a single constituency. As a result, the parties get representation in parliament on the basis of the percentage of votes that they poll.

An advantage of this system is that it reflects the real support for the political parties among the people and also ensures the presence of smaller and regional parties in parliament making the assemblies truly representative bodies. Party leaders are spared of the ‘blackmail’ of electables, and they can nominate really competent and educated people from different walks of national life to represent the party in parliament.

The system also eliminates the possibility of horse-trading and floor-crossing for personal gains as well as political engineering. To make this system really workable, voting must be made compulsory so that all registered voters can exercise their right of franchise.

If political parties are sincere about providing good governance, they must cooperate with each other to introduce the required reforms in the existing system.

The writer is a freelance contributor. He can be reached at: ashpak10@gmail. com