Funds for Local Govts
In a bighearted move, Punjab government has in principle decided to do a huge favour to local governments, which have been lying suspended in the province, and allow them to utilise funds that had been already allocated and transferred to them. During a visit to Faisalabad the other day, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar broke the news about 'unfreezing' LGs' development funds.
As these LGs are hardly among those who can choose what they want, the move must be welcomed. The delivery of funds may help them finance some of their stalled, small schemes aimed at providing basic amenities such as sanitation and potable water to citizens. In some lucky cases, with a little bit of extra optimism, it can be presumed that a few roads may be repaired and crumbling infrastructure patched up here and there.
This would be no small transformation when we consider that the same provincial government had forbidden the same LGs from using their development funds last year. These elected local institutions, dominated as they were by the opposition PML-N, were dissolved midway through their tenure last year to pave the way for the replacement of the Punjab Local Government Act, 2013, with a new law. One reason to 'freeze' the LGs' development funds was to prevent the possible misuse of public money by unelected administrators during this transition period.
The ruling PTI had promised to organise new polls within one year of the premature termination of the elected LGs' tenure. But it is yet to deliver on its commitment in spite of the passage of the new Punjab Local Government Act, 2019, last November. The Covid-19 crisis is cited as the reason for delay but a permanent deterrent in the way of LG polls is the aversion of the upper elected tiers to share power with the grassroots representatives.
Devolution of powers to the lowest units is critical to a strong democratic dispensation. This unfreezing of funds for LGs now in an effort to revitalise the economy can turn into a lesson in governance only if the rulers pay heed to the basic principles of popular rule. The change of heart has come as the Buzdar government tries to stimulate stalled economic activities through public-sector development investment.
The truth is that ultimately rulers must reach out to the grassroots to reach the people. The re-entry and temporary restoration of LG functionaries at this critical moment best illustrates this point.