Civil Society Must Take Over Local Governments
By Laksiri Fernando –April 14, 2016
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
‘So far in human history, the State controlled the society. The task is for the society to control the State.’ – Karl Marx
As an exemplary gesture in 2006, a former Senior Additional Solicitor General, Srinath Perera, contested a local government council (Boralesgamuwa Urban Council) believing that ‘the lack of committed, decent and capable people coming forward’ was one of the factors for the deterioration of the local government system. Giving an interview on his extraordinary decision to the ‘Sunday Island’ (26 March 2006) he said:
“I believe that the overall system [i.e. free education] has allowed me to achieve what I have achieved and I felt a need to give back something in return before I die. I am also aware that there are very few educated people who are willing to enter the fray and for very good reasons too. On the other hand a lot can be done if committed, decent and capable people come forward, especially in local authorities.”
His example was an isolated incident which was not emulated or continued thereafter. Instead we have seen rapists, killers, thugs and extortionists getting hold of the power in many local councils with the support of major political parties or party leaders in order to keep their power bases at local and grassroots levels intact. This is a vicious link that needs to be broken.
Importance
The importance of the local government system doesn’t need to be overemphasized. It is self- evident. The importance is not only for the democratic pyramid, with 336 local councils at the bottom, but also for economic development and social welfare. The system has ancient inspirational roots in the ‘Gam-Sabha’ system, modernized and/or substituted during the British period. It is less recognized that the people in the country first learnt about the value of the franchise or the representative democracy through the local government system, however limited, well before the universal franchise was introduced for the State Council in 1931.
Local governments are the public/state institutions closest to the people and their day to day as well as development needs from garbage collection to building approvals through health, sanitation, local roads and environmental protection. When the local government system was reformed in 1987, ‘community development’ was introduced as a major function also allowing the local councils to get involved in ‘enterprises’ in partnership with the private sector (PPP).
