The parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of planning the other day recommended for strengthening of the local government (LG) institutions during the upcoming seventh five-year plan period to, what it said, lessen the usual pressure on the central government.
Such a recommendation is nothing unusual. The people are accustomed to hearing this kind of suggestions coming from policymakers, experts and politicians. None has ever disputed the fact that the country's LG institutions need to be given more power, resources and independence to help shape their own destiny.
The constitution of the country also contains provision that calls for empowering the LG bodies with enough authority and making available sufficient resources to carry forward development activities in areas under their command. The provision also ensures freedom for the LG bodies to mobilise resources on its own by levying fees and charges.
But there exists a large gap between what is preached and the ground realities. The truth lies in the suggestion that was put forward by the parliamentary body. Even 44 years after the country's independence, the lawmakers who are supposed to make the LG bodies strong and independent enough to play the most important role in local-level development activities are still pleading for strengthening of the LG institutions.
A number of factors are held responsible for the LG bodies not performing up to the expectations of the people. The love for exercising absolute power and authority at the local level by the lawmakers is one of those. Not many lawmakers are willing to play the role of advisers only to the Upazila Parishad that the law concerned provides for.
The conflict of interests between the lawmakers and the upazila chairmen is known to all. Despite having popular support behind them the upazila chairmen could not do well in their fight with the lawmakers since the latter are more close to the centre of power. The members of parliament (MPs) have always enjoyed upper hand because of the tacit blessing they receive from the power-that-be.
However, the conflict though on a number of times had drawn the national attention is yet to cross the limit of decency since the majority of the chairmen belong to the ruling Awami League. The situation otherwise would have been very difficult had the chairmen were from the opposition political parties.
Though there is no scope for contesting the local government elections under the party banner it has been more or less a bipartisan battle for more than three decades. This particular culture has been discouraging many non-partisan yet competent people from taking part in local level polls.
In fact, the major political parties while in power have always tried to create and expand their clientele base using the LG institutions. They need to distribute favour among their activists and supporters at the grassroots and the LG institutions are found to be perfect vehicles for achieving that objective. That is why they are always eager to put their own men at the helm of the LG bodies.
There should be no reason for anyone to grumble about the involvement of political elements in the affairs of the LG bodies, particularly when politics appears to be all-pervasive in this country. But the main problem lies with the level of efficiency and integrity of most political elements. It is, however, difficult to distribute favour among party activists and supporters with the honest and sincere men at the helm of LG bodies. So, in most cases, unscrupulous people get all the backing.
This rotten system of favouring the unscrupulous people, in fact, creates an opportunity for misappropriation and wastage of very limited resources made available to the LG bodies every year.
The LG bodies are still largely dependent on the resources allocated to them annually. Though the constitution empowers the LG bodies to levy taxes and fees, their earning on this account has been meagre since they enjoy very limited manoeuvrability to operate as a tax collector.
Going by the successive government's attitude towards LG bodies one has reasons to believe that they are not at all serious about strengthening the local level institutions so that resources made available by the centre to help improve the socio-economic conditions of the people at the grassroots are well spent.
The irony is that politicians and bureaucrats operating at the centre of power are unwilling to strengthen the LG bodies so that the latter continue to remain dependent on dole money made available through the annual budget. They fear that greater independence might prompt the LG bodies to defy the designs and directives of the centre.
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