Mired in myriad controversies, Sindh’s local bodies have finished their four-year term. But along with the local councils themselves, the provincial local government commission, which was supposed to oversee their functions, spent the entire tenure with little to show for itself.
Under the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, the commission had to keep an eye on local bodies by conducting special inspections, arranging audits and preparing annual reports. It was also tasked with resolving disputes and grievances, both within the local bodies and between them and provincial government.
“Since day one, however, the commission’s composition has been incomplete,” a local government official told The Express Tribune. Under the aforementioned act, the commission was to be headed by the local government minister and comprise the local government secretary, two technocrats and four MPAs, two of whom would be picked by the chief minister and two nominated by the Sindh Assembly opposition leader.
“The treasury and opposition never evolved consensus over who the four MPAs would be. So it continued to exist only on paper,” the official said.
Even with no functional commission to provide oversight, the Sindh finance department continued to disburse over Rs60 billion every year among all local bodies, official documents revealed. “The local councils also generated their own income in addition to this through local taxes, parking charges, etc. How this money was utilised for development, no one knows,” the official said.
A technocrat who served as a member of the commission admitted that the body was ‘toothless’ and had failed to achieve its targets. “We didn’t meet quorum, but even then we referred two inquiries to the chief minister. Nothing happened, though,” he said. “Without a proper secretariat, as envisaged in the relevant act, how could the commission have worked?”
The ex-commission member added that the body also had to impart training to local government representatives. “But we couldn’t materialise this endeavour either.”
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Sindh Assembly opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi accused the Sindh government of violating its own law by delaying the nomination of MPAs to the commission. “We took this issue up persistently, but the CM and his cabinet turned a blind eye,” he said. “Meanwhile, billions of rupees were supposedly spent by local government representatives. There needs to be a proper audit.”
Defending the Sindh government’s performance, Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said, “The commission has been working as a watchdog to monitor the affairs of all local bodies.” He added that many inquiries have been conducted against a few corporations and town committees.
“It is unfortunate that the final two nominees for the commission could not be finalised, but we are again pursuing this matter and will complete its composition,” Shah insisted. “Once up and running, it will oversee all local government bodies now being run by administrators.”
Published in The Express Tribune, Septe0mber 13th, 2020.
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