The right to be disillusioned
"The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned."
– Antonio Gramsci
Elections in three city corporations might be 'a fight against anti-Bangladeshi forces', as declared by an AL-backed mayoral candidate or a 'dialogue' between the belligerent political giants AL and BNP, as opined by a BNP spokesperson in an interview or a 'historical opportunity to create an alternative beyond AL and BNP', as urged by a flamboyant leftist mayoral candidate. But most importantly it has ushered in a hope for governing the ever growing urban phenomena democratically. The real power of election, and ultimately democracy itself, is not that it can persuade people to elect candidates who break their promises more often than not but that it can inspire people to engage in collective political action to change their hopeless reality.
In the current electoral race, candidates have promised to solve various problems of the cities with their ingenious formulas. Their election manifestos cover a wide range of issues from mosquito control to digitalising the urban spaces. The city dwellers' passionate response to the election campaigns shows that those pledges, even if they go beyond a city corporation's mandate, are close to their hearts; they want those pledges to be realised by their elected representatives.
Now, the important question to ask is whether an elected city mayor has the authority to implement his election promises. According to the third schedule of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009, there are, broadly, 28 types of activities under the authority of city corporations. It covers most of the basic needs related to city life. Unfortunately, the central government leaves little space for the city authority to undertake any major decision, even on the designated works of the city corporation, which may impact the lives of city dwellers in a greater way.
Section 42 (1) of the Act gives the central government extraordinary authority to withdraw any institution or activity from the purview of the city corporation to its control. It can even abolish the formation of any City Corporation (Section 108). Applying this authority, the government split the DCC into two parts on November 29, 2011.
The Act allows city corporations to undertake any development plan and its implementation but the plan needs to be approved by the central government's Local Government Division. The central government has the power to make any changes to the Corporations' budget [Section 76(3)].
Dhaka and Chittagong are generally called 'cities of government' as the central government agencies control major urban services in these cities. For example, in Dhaka there are 56 government bodies responsible for providing various urban services. City corporations have to deal with these various institutions to implement their mandate. Getting in tune with so many institutions is a hectic task for which the city corporation does not even have the coordination authority. They can invite different agencies but the agencies are not obligated to attend the meetings.
In the presence of such an all powerful and interventionist central government, elected bodies of the city are pushed to the margin and the city is basically run by bureaucracy. The gap between bureaucracy and the urban people is filled up by an informal governance structure created by whichever ruling party is in power through its party loyals. This is a patron-client relationship where both the government officials and party activists collude under the patronage of the ruling party and create an informal system of grievance resolution bypassing the formal complaint channels, particularly in delivering services. This gives scope for corruption of the whole urban government machinery imposing an unofficial system of charges and 'fees' for every service. On the other hand it creates a regressive political system in the city where local partymen including maastans act as middlemen with unscrupulous government officials, collecting 'tolls' and mobilising vote banks by distributing favours. Their role grows as the formal institutions fail to deliver.
As a solution to this structural subservience of the city corporations some candidates as well as some experts have put forward the idea of 'city government'. But the proposal will remain elusive until and unless city corporations are given autonomy to govern city affairs. To do that, first, the Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009 should be amended in the spirit of our Constitution which endorses effective autonomy of local governments [Article 59 (2)]. City governance is more than just city government. That's why citizen rights movements are very important to work as a guide for the city administration and break the patron-client structure of political domination in the city.
On a different note, city corporations should come out of the managerial approach, which remain wards of the central government and relies fundamentally on redistributions for survival. It has to be much more innovative and entrepreneurial. It needs to work on a sort of public-private partnership in which the traditional service delivery system will be integrated with the use of local government powers to try and attract external sources of funding, new direct investment and new employment sources.
Dhaka has been identified by the UN Habitat as the fastest growing mega city in the world. With an annual population growth rate of 4.4 percent it has been projected that by 2020 Dhaka would become the third largest mega city. The economic significance of Dhaka city is that it contributes 30 percent to the total GDP. Chittagong is also poised with the potential of becoming the business capital of Bangladesh. Without entrepreneurial and innovative city governance we will not be able to harness these potentials.
So, we the city people need to be a little more realistic about this election as a panacea to all the city's problems. The election should not be the goal but a beginning of a movement for a democratic and participatory future of city governance.
The writer is Sr. Editorial Assistant, The Daily Star.
Email: [email protected]
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