Law
reform
Activate
standing committee to strengthen the local government
Oli
Md. Abdullah Chowdhury
Strengthening
local government is one of the essential elements of good
governance and service delivery to the rural people of
Bangladesh could be made effective through the supervision
of local government. Though there had been suggestion
for encouraging local government in the constitution of
Bangladesh, successive governments have discouraged this
basic institution instead. As a result, essence of the
development activities does not reach to rural people
and centralisation remains a big problem until now after
three decades of independence.
Constitution
and the local government
"The State shall encourage local Government institutions
composed of representatives of the areas concerned and
in such institutions special representation shall be given,
as far as possible, to peasants, workers and women"-
as it is said in Article 9 of the Constitution of the
People's Republic of Bangladesh. Instead of encouraging
local government, centralisation has been ensured by all
the governments.
Union
Parishad Ordinance
An ordinance to provide for the constitution of Union
Parishads for the unions in rural areas was made in 1983,
namely, The Local Government (Union Parishads) Ordinance,
1983. Though there has been an ordinance for more than
20 years, it has not been implemented wholly. The provision
of constitution of Standing Committee is a glaring example
that laws are not implemented in our country properly.
Constitution
of standing committee
It has been codified in Section 38(1) of the ordinance,
" The Union Parishad shall, at its first meeting,
in each year , or as soon as may be at any meeting subsequent
thereto, constitute Standing Committees for dealing respectively
with-
(a) finance and establishment;
(b) education;
(c) health, family planning, epidemic control and sanitation
(d) audit and accounts
(e) agriculture and other development works
(f) social welfare and community centres
(g) cottage industries and cooperatives
Moreover,
Union Parishad may constitute additional Standing Committees.
In that case, prior approval is needed from the Deputy
Commissioner, however.
Again,
Union Parishad may co-opt a person possessing special
qualification of either sex outside from the members of
Union Parishad. Though, s/he would not have any voting
right, shall deemed to be member thereof for all other
purposes.
Transparency
and accountability
Not only rural people of Bangladesh are skeptical by and
large in effectiveness of UPs in fulfilling the demands
of the public, they also think that there is a lack of
internal transparency in the conduct of UP's business.
Activation of Standing Committees would help UPs bring
transparency in financial management with better service
delivery by monitoring service deliberation properly.
Network
of Union Parishad
National Union Parishad Forum (NUPF) is a network of Union
Parishad . This forum has expressed strong interest in
forming standing committees, as it would give UP credibility
to the people of the constituency whom they represent.
At the same time, it would help them delivering service
in a better way through a participatory and transparent
process.
Concluding
remarks
Although there are some committees prescribed by the government
circulars, they do not exist or are not effective in practice.
According to the aforesaid ordinance, UPs like parliament
are authorised to form standing committees to oversee
services, like health and education. If Standing Committees
are in place, local government would be further strengthened
and people would get better service.
The
author is Advocacy and Research Specialist, FIVDB.
