Effective local govt must to ensure better service

The decentralisation model of the Kerala local government in India can be a good example for Bangladesh to establish an effective local government system under which access to public services by poor and marginalised people will be ensured, experts said yesterday.

Political influence and manipulation by central leadership, increasing oversight and advisory role of MPs over the local government institutes (LGIs), are some of the reasons behind under performance of the LGIs, they added.

“The state of Kerala is regarded as one of the most decentralised states for its significant fiscal decentralisation programme…,” said Dr PP Balan, director of Kerala Institute of Local Administration, at a seminar in the capital.

Held in the capital's Department of Public Health Engineering auditorium, the two-day international seminar titled “Towards effective accountable and inclusive LGIs: learning from South Asia and beyond” was organised by national institute of local government, upazila governance project and union parishad governance project.

About the Kerala model, Balan said, “We employ a diagnostic framework to analyse its local government discretion and accountability in political, administrative and fiscal domains.”

Saying that Kerala has 941 village panchayats, 152 block (intermediary) panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 87 municipalities and six municipal corporations, he said, all the local administration are functioning independently without any interference. “In Kerala panchayats people determine and finalise their projects in accordance to their necessity.”

“…People will be highly benefited if decentralisation works properly,” he told The Daily Star after the programme. He said Bangladesh can also follow the Kerala model to ensure better service to poor and marginalised.

Prof Salahuddin M Aminuzzman of Dhaka University in his keynote speech said there is an unequal local power structure in the country whereby the relatively privileged classes wield far greater power than the vast majority.

Prof Mobasser Monem of DU read out Prof Aminuzzaman's keynote in his absence. 

“Access to public services by poor and marginalised is limited due to their powerless and voiceless position…,” reads the keynote, adding, “Political leadership in general suffers from an image and credibility crises and the trust level on the political and elected leader is also remarkably low.”

Experts from Sri Lanka and the Philippines also shared their experience on the local government system.