Decentralisation Initiative: Held back by lack of political will

The government initiative to decentralise several public service deliveries by transferring them to local government bodies has not been properly implemented even though a law was enacted for this nine years ago, said development practitioners and governance campaigners yesterday.

As a result, rural people are being deprived of quality services, they said at a views exchange meeting at the capital's Cirdap.

Governance Advocacy Forum (GAF), a platform of NGOs, arranged the meeting.

Speakers said bureaucratic and political unwillingness were the major obstacles and urged ministries concerned to take prompt action.

Referring to Upazila Parishad (Amendment) Act 2011, Ziaul Karim, coordinator of governance programme at the Manusher Jonno Foundation, said activities and manpower of 17 government bodies were transferred to upazila parishad. 

The bodies include directorates of health, family planning, agricultural extension, fisheries, livestock, disaster management, social welfare and primary education.

But in reality, the government "lacks the political will" to hand over the functions of these offices to upazila parishad, he said while presenting the outcome of a survey report.

Talking to this newspaper after the event, Ziaul said officials of these departments bypass upazila parishad in terms of accountability.

For example, he continued, upazila health and family planning officers (UHFPOs) are supposed to report to the upazila parishad, but in reality they are reporting to superior departmental officials, bypassing the upazila parishad.

According to the upazila parishad act, upazila chairmen are assigned to prepare the annual performance report of the officials of the 17 departments while the senior officials of their respective departments are charged with the responsibility of preparing the annual confidential report (ACR).    

On the other hand, the parent department does not properly monitor the activities of the UHFPOs as their activities have been transferred by law. 

It is a big reason for the healthcare facilities in rural areas being poor, he added.

Referring to Local Government (Union Parishad) Act 2009, Ziaul said functions of seven government offices were "transferable" to union parishad authorities.  

He said for proper implementation of the laws, the government needs to abolish and withdraw some policies, directives, and circulars.

Harunur Rashid, president of Upazila Parishad Foundation, alleged that the ministries do not want local government representatives to take care of the public services.

Providing public services through the local government institutions is the most efficient way as they have better service delivery capacity, said Prof Ferdous Arfina Osman of Dhaka University's public administration department. 

GAF Coordinator Mohsin Ali said although the elected representatives were the heads of local government institutions on paper, they did not actually have such powers.

He said an efficient local government was imperative to reducing the service-delivery discrimination between urban and rural areas.

Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Tazul Islam said pubic representatives have to be more competent in providing services. They need to press relevant authorities harder for implementing development projects in their areas.

Economist Prof MM Akash, development activist and lawmaker Aroma Dutta, UNDP Bangladesh's Senior Project Manager Sardar M Asaduzzaman, and Bangladesh Union Parishad Forum President Zakaria Alam, among others, spoke at the event.