The history of local or city governments is linked to ancient civilisations of Mohenjo-daro and Nineveh. Political history of the world tells us that democracy begins with local government. The glorious empires of Greece and Rome began their journey with with the city government.
Local democracy is path to awareness for masses and empower them at grossroot levels.
In Pakistan four different systems were introduced for local governments in the past to provide basic health care facilities as local governments act as a nursery to provide leadership to a state.
This year local government elections were held in most of the districts of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa wile Polling for the second phase of in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held on March 31, according to the revised poll schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday.
The basic definition of democracy is that the government of the people is for the people, by the people. The only solution left to make the people a part of this democracy is the restoration of local government system and its proper uninterrupted functioning.
Province like KPK are faced with severe problems due to prolonged war on terror. The province faced the biggest IDP crisis in the recent history of South Asia. Currently, KPK is in process of completing the process of local governments. The structure of current local government system caters for both rural and urban centers. According to the official data, the local government elections held for the following posts;
- City District Government for district Peshawar
- District Government for district other than Peshawar
- Tehsil Municipal Administration for a Tehsil
- Town Municipal Administration for a town in the City District
- Village Council for a village in the rural areas.
- Neighbourhood Council for a neighbourhood in areas with urban characteristics
Elections being held in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts. In total,in the second phase, elections will be held for 65 posts of the tehsil and city council chairmen and mayors in 18 districts. First phase completed for 19 districts in December last year.
Local Government Elections & Rural Development Department of KPK government is responsible for managing all the affairs related to local governments in the province. The vision of the department is to enhance the local governments’ ability to generate revenue and optimally utilise development funds while meeting the needs of their respective administrative units, including the ability to deliver municipal services and provide infrastructure. The department also devise policy to enable cities and towns in the province to become engines of economic growth and to create efficient mechanisms for governance of urban and rural areas that can facilitate the flow of goods and services.
The local government system is the foundation of every country’s administrative structure and an important pillar of democracy. An active and efficient local government system is the guarantor of national development. Due to the functioning and efficient working of the local government system in most of the countries of the world, local bodies have played a very important role in the development of the country. While in countries where this system does not exist or is not functioning, the local people are suffering from various problems and those countries are declining. Unfortunately, Pakistan for most part of its history remained in the second category. For the first time, judiciary has actively make federal governments and provincial government to hold local body elections so that Pakistan can move to the first group of countries where local democracies have played a vital role in national and societal developments by providing more transparency, accountability and integrity.
