es there was a great need for this. To be honest! I think both urban and rural people will make full use of this Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021as it is far better than the Sindh Local Government Act 2013. The amended law empowers local bodies system and it is fully capable of generating revenue from their own localities so that itheyt could run its institutions efficiently. On top of that, more than 10 departments such as health, education, police and others will be ultimately accountable to elected representatives of the LG.  However, the mayor will be chairman of Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and vice chairman of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

Under this law, the local government can collect the property tax and improve their taxes in terms of services. Hardly 10-to-20 per cent property tax is currently being received and the local government could widen this tax collection as chairmen of union committees (UCs) could convince the locals to pay taxes to get better services. In the recent past, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) almost completely failed to generate revenue and collect taxes, but this [property] tax would definitely help the LG to work better and on a wider scale. We released funds worth over Rs 55 billion to the MQM-led local government when Waseem Akhter held the office of the Karachi mayor while the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) were also funded handsomely. We have been paying Rs 600 million and Rs 250 million to KMC and Karachi Development Authority (KDA) respectively in salaries and other expenditures on a monthly basis, though they are not our responsibility.

Although the Sindh government has limited financial resources, it has just dished out Rs1.5 billion to KDA for paying gratuity and pensions to the retired employees.I admit that a lot of money is involved in running the affairs of the government. This is why the local government institutions must play their role in utilizing working capacity and manpower, instead of always clamouring for funds. The opposition parties keep lauding the Musharraf-era local bodies system. But if that system was better, why it could not address the basic issues of mass transport system, acute shortage of water and poor road infrastructure in the metropolis?

In fact, Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah wrote letters to all political parties of the province to present their proposals to amend the SLGA 2021 before the amendment. Some gave their input but many others were reluctant. Even after passing the law, the PPP-led Sindh government is still holding dialogues with Jamaat-i-Islami  (JI) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) to address their reservations on it.

“Corruption and looting is the sole agenda of the Sindh govt”

Haleem Adil Sheikh, PTI leader

he Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led Sindh government intends to pocket billions of rupees and has, therefore, deliberately brought back the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013. And now they have amended it and named it as the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021, just to pave way for more corruption in the province, which the PPP has been ruling for the last 14 years.

I keep complaining about the SLGA 2013 which deprived the LGs of basic powers. Though there were some good clauses in the SLGA 2013 through which the local governments could exercise some powers, the ruling elite of Sindh has now abolished those by imposing the SLGA 2021.

I have strong objections to this amended LG law which aims at undermining the autonomy of local government institutions. This new law gives the Sindh government a free hand to embezzle funds worth billions of rupees.   Let me say here that Sindh is being ruled by “Ali Baba and forty thieves” who are ruthlessly robbing the national exchequer and eating up the resources of people of the province. The SLGA 2013 comprises 21 controversial articles which render the LG system powerless and inefficient.

These articles include Article 74, 75, 77, 80, 87, 88 and a few others. These articles wrongly empower the provincial government to enjoy monopoly over the financial and administrative matters, over development, recruitment and other key matters. Can you imagine that a local council could not even finalize schemes of water supply and sewerage system? Isn’t that ridiculous.

If you analyze, the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001 put in place by General Pervez Musharraf was far better than the one introduced by this so-called democratic government in Sindh. If the Sindh government was sincere about delivering to people, it should have made some better amendments to the SLGO 2001 instead of passing the SLGA 2021 without consulting anyone and without paying any heed to what the opposition parties have been saying.

I think corruption and looting funds is the sole agenda of this Sindh government and it has no interest whatsoever in development works, in raising the standard of public institutions or giving relief to deserving people in the province.

Almost all political parties have raised objection to the new LG law and even started a campaign against it which will hopefully continue until the Sindh government rolls back the law and gives the LGs their due rights as enshrined in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.

“We have launched a movement against this black law throughout the province”

Hussain Mehanti , JI Sindh chief

f course this SLGA 2021 is unacceptable. Jamaat-i-Islami has already presented clear-cut demands to repeal this law forthwith in the interest of both urban and rural people and announce the LG polls. It [government] should ensure the rights of people are duly given to them. But, I reckon, this stubborn attitude of the ruling party could do tremendous harm to the province and to the PPP itself.

It is really sad that the PPP-led government is just pretending to engage us in dialogue. If the government was really sincere, this matter would have been sorted out in the first or second sittings of both the parties.

After rejecting the newly-amended LG law, we have been fighting over two fronts; on the one hand, we have adopted a political approach and our activists are continuously staging a protest sit-in peacefully. We have launched a movement against this black law throughout the province for over a month now. The JI will make all out efforts and use all powers under the Constitution to pressurise the Sindh government to abolish the new LG law. On the other hand, the JI has filed a petition in Sindh High Court (SHC) and its proceedings will be initiated in February. According to the Constitution, the provincial government has no authority to usurp the powers of the local bodies system on the pretext of upgrading or improving the LG institutions. If they wish to upgrade the schools and hospitals of the city, nobody will desist and prevent them from it and they also could modernise them under the old LG system.

Under this new law, however, the elected representatives will not be able to have anything in their hand and for that, their voters will definitely be angry with them and malign them. The Sindh government has devised this law in a manner which will only undermine the local bodies set-up and will weaken it. Though I also have some serious reservations about the laws formed during the regime of the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, but I must give this credit to him [Musharraf] that he constituted the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 which was aimed at serving the locals and the localities. We cannot just reject it [law] by calling it the law of the dictator. The simple proof of how beneficial that Ordinance was is the development work that took place in those years in Karachi where roads, flyovers, underpasses, signal free corridors, gardens, parks, greenbelt were constructed.

When the PPP-led government came into power, they made tall claims but have failed in serving the people and in developing this business hub of the country. They have just awarded funds to their parliamentarians [MPAs and MNAs] and deprived the local government institutions of their funds.

As a matter of fact, all parties know that LG polls are mandatory as per the Constitution. Under the Article 140-A of the Constitution, the provincial government should devolve powers to the local government but the Sindh government has deprived the locals of a fair, strong LG system.