'Uncertain' local governance holding back progress

AMA Muhith yesterday said the poor state of local governance remains a major impediment to good governance in the country.

He, however, spoke little about the current state of affairs in the public and police administrations. He also fell short of outlining significant proposals to improve the country's overall governance system. 

He has been speaking for the last eight years for decentralisation of power by strengthening the local government system to speed up economic growth.

Like yesterday, he made some pledges in this regard in all his previous budget speeches since 2009.

Even his party the Awami League ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2008 and 2014 had vowed to strengthen union, upazila and district councils through decentralisation of power.

But all the promises remain unfulfilled due to lack of the government's political will.

Moreover, the electoral process has largely been damaged in last two years due to violence and widespread irregularities, including capturing of polling stations and stuffing of ballot boxes.

The controversial elections raised the question as to how people elected through unlawful means would contribute to improve local governance.

Transaction of huge amount of money during the ongoing union parishad polls over picking party candidates might result in further spread of corruption in local governance, according to governance analysts.    

In such a ground reality, the finance minister spoke for devolution of power.

His argument for devolution, a strong form of decentralisation of power, is significant.

In terms of size and population, as Muhith said, any district of Bangladesh is bigger than 50 to 60 countries in the world.

“It would be difficult to infuse dynamism in development initiatives to achieve 10 percent GDP growth unless an enabling environment is created by devolving power,” he stated in his budget speech styled “Marching towards Growth Development and Equitable Society”.

Muhith first spoke up for devolution of state power last year to make local government institutions effective. But he didn't explain the mode of devolution.

There is a devolution model in the UK. Its parliament enacted separate laws to devolve state powers to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, keeping provisions for a government and a parliament for each of them with some exclusive jurisdictions.  

In the present context, reforms in local government system are critically important, he said adding, the powers and responsibilities of local government institutions need to be explicitly identified.

He also spoke for the idea of district government -- the system Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had moved to introduce, but could not. Through reforms, Muhith believes, the district government could be easily established.

The government's strong political will is required for bringing reforms as the lawmakers and bureaucrats in the past had opposed any changes, fearing they would lose power over the local administration.

Although Muhith claimed his government has a strong political will, it would be a Herculean task and need time. 

What the government immediately needs to do is bringing reforms in public and police administrations to improve governance by ensuring rule of law and fighting corruption.  

He, however, didn't come up with any major proposal for reforms in the public administration. This indicates that the government doesn't have any such plans right now.

Muhith last year acknowledged that the AL government during its previous tenure (2009-2014) couldn't bring necessary reforms in the public administration. “We attached special importance to public administration reform in our election manifesto of 2009 [sic 2008]. But, progress in this regard has been insignificant.”

The AL in 2008 had pledged to depoliticise the public administration and law enforcement agencies, and frame a public service act in line with constitutional provisions.

But nothing significant happened to this end in last eight years. The situation worsened to some extent. Ineffectiveness of bureaucracy has largely been blamed for slow progress in implementation of annual development budget.

An alarming rise in target killings in recent months has exposed inefficiency and failure of the law enforcement agencies to ensure people's security.

On public security, Muhith yesterday only spoke about a process of creating 50,000 news posts in the police.

He wants to ensure institutional accountability and timely performance by strengthening people's right to information.

He said steps will be taken to formulate “Guidelines for Preparing Voluntary Information Disclosure Manual” in all government offices.

The minister perhaps forgot to speak on how to fight corruption by strengthening the Anti-Corruption Commission.

In his previous budget speeches, he focused on the issue. But his yesterday's speech lacked focus on fighting corruption which remains a major obstacle to good governance in the country.