The country's Zilla Parishads have become inactive for long because of the triangular conflict among local lawmakers, district administrators and nominated chairmen, a research report of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said Wednesday.
Unveiling the report, local chapter of the Berlin-based think-tank said the government should take immediate steps to properly empower the elected chairmen and their councils by abolishing all the legal sections, which create impediments to ensuring a powerful local government system.
Presenting the research report at a programme in the city, Nahid Sharmin of TIB said the government should also take measures to initiate indirect election to elect chairman of the Zilla Parishad (district council) as there is no sign of transparency in the process of appointing chairman.
Citing section-30 of Zilla Parishad Act-2000, she said the law allows the lawmaker of each district to play the advisory role in the council and intervene in all kinds of activities bypassing the chairman.
"The structure of the key local government body was not made in line with the act concerned and no election was held in Bangladesh since the introduction of the body," she said.
She said in the existing framework of the Zilla Council there is often scope for corruption and irregularities in the areas of recruitment of employees, development and social welfare activities due to the lack of transparency in the system. She said the council should be given adequate authority to raise the income through reducing its dependency on the fund provided by the government.
According to the report, 56 per cent income comes from tax against transfer of immovable properties followed by toll collection with 27 per cent and 12 per cent income from the landed property.
Speaking on the issue, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said good governance in the district council cannot be ensured without ensuring equal distribution of power among the parties.
"The spirit of power decentralisation is not evident among politicians and bureaucrats, that has resulted in the problem," he said, adding that the unexpected intervention of lawmakers and government officials should immediately be stopped for the wellbeing of the local government body.
"The triangular conflict among parliamentarians, bureaucrats and the nominated chairmen due to legal limitations has led to the inactivity," he said.
He said the government should specifically mention the level of its jurisdiction over the council and include a section establishing authority of the elected chairman in project formulation and implementation.
The research report suggested taking initiative to fill up the vacant posts as one-fifth of the posts in the district council have remained vacant. It also recommended that the tenure of district council administrators be limited to six months.
