‘Fuss over LG law to hide PTI’s failure’

The PPP’s Minister for Information and Labour in Sindh, Saeed Ghani, is among the few sane voices in the provincial government, who understands well the socio-political dynamics of the region. The affable politician, who is also PPP’s Karachi president, was inspired by his father Usman Ghani and Pakistan People’s Party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to enter politics and to fight for the rights of people like his father who was also a veteran labour leader and was martyred in his forties.

Ghani, whose ancestors hail from Karachi and have been natives of the metropolis for over a century, received his entire education here. To his credit, he has survived the test of time and nerves with aplomb, even when Karachi reverberated with gun shots and bodies were found in sacks on the roads and when freedom of expression was quelled by the rulers and the fascist forces.

Ghani and his party have recently been under the spotlight for the controversial Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 that has antagonised the rival political parties in the province including MQM-P, Jamaat-i-Islami, PSP, GDA and the others who are demanding an urgent reversal of the law.

In an exclusive interview with Bol News this week, Ghani stoutly defends the PPP’s stance to amend the LG law and enunciates strong views about his party which, he says, is the only real democratic force in the country. He makes it clear that while the PPP is willing to show flexibility on the local government law and may consider rational proposals to improve or amend it, the party will not bow down to any threats or blackmailing tactics from any quarter.

The new local government law has caused a major uproar and controversy. Is the PPP willing to review it or amend it?

Saeed Ghani: It is not for nothing that the controversies are being created. It is an attempt by some parties want to divert the people’s attention away from the blunders and bad governance of the PTI-led federal government so that the main issues like inflation, sugar, flour, petrol, gas crisis etc can be swept under the carpet. I wish to reiterate here that we are willing to show flexibility on the LG law, but only if sincere suggestions are put forward to improve the local bodies system.

We are poised to amend it, but the opposition parties are trying to dictate things to us and are threatening us because they want to get this law passed as per their own wishes. That is not going to happen. Governments or parliaments make legislation throughout the world and the oppositions could present their proposals to make it better. But they can’t get things done at gunpoint. They are delivering fiery speeches and issuing statements which are not acceptable.

Your party says that the opposition is playing politics over the LG law. But do you really think the LG system your party has introduced will benfit Karachi?

SG: This is not a new LG law. The party amended the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 with a view to improving it, devolving powers to the local bodies and benefiting Karachiites in terms of better health and education services. That said, they [opposition] keep clamouring that powers have been usurped while PPP is trying to make the LG system much stronger, instead of making it weak or ineffective.

How will it benefit the Karachiites, if the metropolis is divided into 26 towns? How will that help the city’s issues of health, education, sanitation, removal of garbage, road infrastructure etc?

SG: The opposition parties have been demanding of the government to make towns in Karachi. Some PPP legislators including myself were of the view that Karachi can be run better through District Municipal Corporations (DMCs). However, a few other PPP legislators and the opposition parties insist that everyone should have a chance to win the elections from any area they wish so that they may serve and address the problems of their respective localities in a better way. Therefore, the metropolis has been divided into over two dozen towns.

Will the collection of the property tax be enough to run the affairs of local bodies system?

SG: Sindh government strove to revamp a collection mechanism of the property tax under this amended law, aimed to scale it up to around Rs18-20 billion from the existing meagre amount of Rs1 to Rs1.5 billion. And Karachi has a lot of potential to achieve that figure. The local government might collect property tax and other levies to streamline its system efficiently. Unfortunately it (LG) is unable to devise right sort of taxations and collect them properly, despite having the necessary powers in this respect. It constantly complains of being short on funds, but it should not be doing so. Rather, it should make hectic efforts to generate revenue.

In the past, the provincial government used to collect the property tax of the entire Karachi worth approximately Rs1 billion or Rs1.5 billion and submitted it to the DMCs. But this is certainly not enough for a huge city like Karachi.

Why Sindh government is so keen to keep its control over the health and education institutions as per the newly-passed law?

SG: The government only have betterment of health and educational institutions in its scope when it talks about owning them. We sincerely wish to upgrade and improve the facilities at these institutions in view of the rising population of the port city. The government has to fork out and invest a massive amount of funds to upgrade, for instance, the Abbassi Shaheed Hospital and the Karachi Institute of Heart Disease (KIHD) and bring them at par with the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). Once upgraded, the Karachiites living in district central would tremendously benefit from the facilities. The local government is not capable of running such health and education facilities on its own, but the provincial government is fully capable of upgrading them and running them smoothly.

It is being said that the proposed LG law will help PPP in winning the local government elections and in bringing its own mayor in Karachi and Hyderabad?

SG: The law does not appertain to winning of polls as masses cast their votes as per their wish and for the party whose ideology is appealing to them. As a matter of fact, we could make people more aware about this devolution of power, even at the lowest level and create an LG system on the basis of goodwill and provide solutions to their problems at their own localities.

Actually, those parties which belong to Karachi see the metropolis as a separate, administrative and Constitutional unit. They are keen to see transfer of Sindh Chief Minister’s powers to the city mayor. All these parties ought to be united and should play their role in promoting this mega city by forming separate local government for each district of Karachi. Then perhaps all the people could get their fair and proper rights.

Do you think Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is raising objections to the LG law because it is running away from the upcoming LG elections?

SG:  Absolutely yes. I have said this repeatedly. You see, in the recent by-elections held in Karachi including on seats of provincial and national assemblies in Malir and Bahria Town respectively, as well as in the cantonment elections, people rejected MQM-P and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI). Clifton which was supposed to be a stronghold of PTI saw the PPP emerging as the winner. Both the parties got the shock of their lives and know fully well now that that they would face defeat in the LG elections. So they intend to prolong this issue of the LG law by dragging the matter to the court sand making it controversial.

Has the PPP in anyway filled the vacuum that was created after the MQM’s disintegration?

SG: PPP has been gaining its popularity in Karachi with each passing day. Regardless of creed, race and colour, various communities, common people and even staunch activists of other political parties are joining PPP and this is a major breakthrough for us. Obviously, this trend has frustrated our opponents.

Why did your party altered the LG system established during the Musharraf eras and which was functioning reasonably well?

SG: Former dictator Pervez Musharraf introduced this LG system in 2001 when there were no national and provincial assemblies. Today, the provincial assembly has a mandate to amend the LG law. After elections, when the assemblies were formed in 2002, the dictator issued the Legal Framework Order (LFO) which ensured protection of many laws including the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001. The LFO forbade assemblies to make or amend the LG law without the permission of the then President’s approval and Pervez Musharraf used the powers of assemblies to ensure his survival.

By putting that law in place and usurping powers of assemblies was wrong on Musharraf’s part. It is also not true that only Sindh government abolished it. All provincial governments of the country including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan did away with it and there is no such law in place across the country now.

Please tell me as to why are the opposition parties harping on the Musharraf-era local bodies system and why are they not presenting fresh proposals to amend the current LG law? There is mal-intention there, nothing else.

Do you see any role of Jamaat-i-Islami  (JI) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) in Karachi politics?

SG: Jamaat-i-Islami has a limited role in politics and in the elections in Karachi. But the government does intend to sort out JI’s issues and engage it in dialogue. They are staging protests and threatening the government with road blocks etc and also held a public gathering recently on University Road Gulshan-i-Iqbal and blocked  themain thoroughfare. We wish to resolve this matter amicably.

Do you see the JI resurfacing in Sindh’s politics in a major way. Can the PPP form some sort of alliance with the JI in days to come?

SG: To be honest with you, not at all. In fact, JI is gradually losing its appeal among the masses, if you see its track record. After the dissipation of MQM-P, the JI might gain a little bit in popularity but currently, no such signs are there. The JI clinched only one seat of Sindh assembly in the 2018 elections, while they (polls) were much more controversial.

Dialogues keep on between political parties when time of elections comes, it might be thought about some alliance.

The Karachi law and order situation is getting worse and you have yourself admitted to that. What measure are being taken to improve it?

SG: Yes, recently the street crime rate has gone up in Karachi but it has its reason which are skyrocketing inflation, unprecedented unemployment, poor economic conditions and other reasons. We are taking measures to control it and have met with reasonable success.

Your party has been ruling Sindh for more than a decade now but the basic civic infrastructure in Karachi is in a shambles. Why?

SG: When the PPP government came into power after 12 years, the roads and the infrastructure was in a horrible shape. There was no work done on the infrastructure between 1996 to 2008 in Karachi. We repaired or reconstructed a number of roads and bridges. But you must keep in mind that this is a mega city where 10 roads are built and another 10 roads are destroyed due to the magnitude of traffic in the city. This is an ongoing cycle and the city facilities are require to be revamped continuously. The PPP government in Sindh has spent more funds, done more work and constructed more roads and bridges and facilities that anyone, much more than the time of ex-MQM mayor Mustafa Kamal’s term.