Have We Found A Solution To Our LG Conundrum?
By Laksiri Fernando –March 10, 2016
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
Have we found a solution to our local government (LG) conundrum with the recent ‘women’s representation’ bill adopted on 9 February? Perhaps nearly, but not really.
The local government system has been in the doldrums for some years or decades now, and the recent hiccups have added to the drama in unmeasurable terms. Problems are both structural and political. All local government bodies expired by 15 May 2015, and some of them much earlier. There are delays in conducting elections apparently for several articulated and unarticulated reasons. Two reasons attributed are (1) some technical defects found by the National Elections Commission (NEP) in election legislation, and (2) the difficulties encountered by the Ministry (Provincial Councils and Local Government) in finalizing the delimitation of Wards.
However, “Waiting for Polls” (Editorial, ‘The Island,’ 4 March 2012) should not be like ‘Waiting for Godot.’ There can be drastic consequences for democracy, if the elections are delayed unnecessarily.
Alienation from the Local
Let me discuss some of the political matters first in respect of the LG conundrum. The local government institutions are primarily for resolving local issues and supplying services to the local communities. This is one way of developing a country from ‘bottom-up,’ provided that necessary resources are given through the national budget and the equally important ‘political will’ is there.
But throughout years, the local government institutions have excessively got involved in national politics and have neglected their primary tasks. In defining the tasks of local government or governance, I will go by John-Mary Kauzya (Ugandan) who has supplied a useful description:
“What determines whether governance is local or not is the extent to which the local population is involved in steering (i.e. determination the direction) according to their local needs, problems and priorities.”
The above was presented in a paper in Stockholm in May 2000. The emphasis is not only on ‘local needs, problems and priorities,’ but also on the ‘involvement of local population.’
