Do bureaucrats really want strong local government?

IT is pretty interesting, and surprising too. Bureaucrats who had jumped on the bandwagon of politicians to keep the upazila parishads paralysed during the last five years have now spoken in favour of strengthening this local government institution by minimising trianglular conflicts among local MPs, upazila chairmen and UNOs.
At a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, some secretaries also stressed the need for effective enforcement of the laws on different local government bodies and for bringing amendments to them if needed. It is also quite surprising that the bureaucrats also spoke for running the zila parishads through elected representatives. This means the bureaucrats want the government to hold long overdue elections to zila parishads, which have been run by administrators since December 2012.   
All this sounds good. But their call for strengthening the local government does not match with the long bureaucratic culture, which is still against the growth of the local government system. The upazila parishad has been the worst victim of this culture. The past Awami League-led government made a blunder by amending the upazila parishad law. It made MPs advisors to the parishads, empowering them to meddle in the functions of the upazila parishads which were constituted through elections in January 2009 after a long gap of 19 years. The newly elected upazila chairmen had strongly denounced it and demanded scrapping of the provision that allowed MPs to become advisors. This gave birth to conflicts between the local MPs and upazila parishad chairmen. The upazila level administration led by UNOs has been beneficiary of the conflicts.
The government had empowered the upazila parishads to supervise and manage the affairs of 17 departments under various ministries at upazila level. This move did not make the upazila administration happy. They demanded bigger role in the local administration. They did not need to stage demonstrations for realisation of their demand as their superior officers in the ministries kept favouring them with powers by issuing numerous circulars. In the last five years, different ministries have formed more than 80 committees through circulars, and UNOs were made chiefs of almost all the crucial committees to run the upazila administration bypassing the parishads. Aggrieved upazila chairmen had nothing to do, but to air their grievances. The UNOs who were made secretaries to the upazila parishads in 2009 were later made chief executive officers. They were also very tactful and did not annoy MPs. They maintained good relations with MPs to exercise their powers to run the administration.
If top bureaucrats now sincerely want to see strengthened upazila parishads, they need to scrap many of the circulars and stop issuing such circulars in future which empower the UNOs over the elected representatives to the upazila parishads. If they do not do this, the remarks they made at the meeting with the premier will remain as rhetoric.
The crucial question is, what prompted the bureaucrats to speak in favour of strengthening the local governments? Did they feel the sentiments of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who, according to some, wants to take measures to strengthen the upazila parishad system. For this, she needs to demonstrate strong leadership. She needs to begin the process at her own home by stopping MPs from meddling in the functions of upazila parishads. Her government should immediately amend the upazila parishad law to scrap the controversial provision that makes MPs advisors to the parishads. Some more new efforts need to be taken to make the upazila parishads vibrant.
If the upazila parishads are made functional in a real sense, it will in no way curtail her supreme power in the cabinet. Rather, it will brighten her image. She will be enjoying strong support at upazila level. The upazila parishads will be able to work to implement her government's plans for development. She has no other alternative but to make the upazila parishads functional if she wants to implement her party's electoral pledges.  
The bureaucrats' suggestion for running the zila parishads through elected representatives is also significant. It is not clear what prompted them to give such advice. Were they encouraged by the ruling AL's electoral manifesto, which speaks for a strong zila parishad system? All depends on the prime minister now. She needs to demonstrate her will for holding polls to zila parishads. Only elected zila parishads can ensure people's participation in the parishads' activities through their representatives.
To implement her party's electoral pledges on decentralisation of power in a real sense, she must take the leadership and direct the bureaucrats to formulate and implement the plans to this effect. Under her leadership the cabinet needs to constantly monitor implementation of such plans. Remaining dependent on the bureaucrats will not yield the desired result.
 

The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.