Local governments sidelined despite key role in grassroots democracy: Khawaja Asif

LAHORE:  Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday stated that despite their role in strengthening grassroots politics, local governments continued to be neglected by political parties, which had ultimately weakened civilian rule.

The defence minister made the remarks while addressing a panel session titled “Devolution for Revolution” at ThinkFest, a political and literary festival.

Also present alongside the minister were Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) Vice Chancellor Ali Cheema, former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain and former MPA Mary James Gill.

In his remarks, Asif said that three military rulers — Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf — had remained in power longer than any civilian government largely because they introduced local government systems and drew political strength from them.

He admitted that the failure to institutionalise local bodies was “a political failure on our part”.

He noted that local government elections, whenever held, had historically been far less controversial than national polls.

“Yet we have continued to avoid them,” he regretted.

Asif recalled that local bodies were included in the Charter of Democracy signed by the PPP and the PML-N in 2006, but the provision failed to find adequate space in the 18th Constitutional Amendment even though most other agreed reforms were incorporated.

He added that the resistance to empowering the grassroots tier mainly came from the bureaucracy, which feared losing authority to elected representatives.

Expanding on the discussion, Cheema highlighted the administrative and service delivery dimensions of local governments.

While Asif focused on their political and democratic value, Cheema said their real strength lied in defining the state’s delivery system.

Citing international examples, he said the United Kingdom spent nearly 60 per cent of its development funds through local governments, while the United States allocated around 40 per cent.

“This is how they achieved the so-called municipal revolution,” he said. Staff Report