{"id":158977,"date":"2016-03-10T03:48:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T22:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=158977"},"modified":"2016-03-13T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T06:13:08","slug":"have-we-found-a-solution-to-our-lg-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/have-we-found-a-solution-to-our-lg-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Have We Found A Solution To Our LG Conundrum?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

Have we found a solution to our local government (LG) conundrum with the recent \u2018women\u2019s representation\u2019 bill adopted on 9 February? Perhaps nearly, but not really.<\/p>\n

The local government system has been in the doldrums for some years or decades now, and the recent hiccups have added to the drama in unmeasurable terms. Problems are both structural and political. All local government bodies expired by 15 May 2015, and some of them much earlier. There are delays in conducting elections apparently for several articulated and unarticulated reasons. Two reasons attributed are (1) some technical defects found by the National Elections Commission (NEP) in election legislation, and (2) the difficulties encountered by the Ministry (Provincial Councils and Local Government) in finalizing the delimitation of Wards.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cWaiting for Polls\u201d (Editorial, \u2018The Island<\/em>,\u2019 4 March 2012) should not be like \u2018Waiting for Godot.\u2019 There can be drastic consequences for democracy, if the elections are delayed unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

Alienation from the Local<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me discuss some of the political matters first in respect of the LG conundrum. The local government institutions are primarily for resolving local issues and supplying services to the local communities. This is one way of developing a country from \u2018bottom-up,\u2019 provided that necessary resources are given through the national budget and the equally important \u2018political will\u2019 is there.<\/p>\n

But throughout years, the local government institutions have excessively got involved in national politics and have neglected their primary tasks. In defining the tasks of local government or governance, I will go by John-Mary Kauzya (Ugandan) who has supplied a useful description:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat determines whether governance is local or not is the extent to which the local population is involved in steering (i.e. determination the direction) according to their local needs, problems and priorities.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The above was presented in a paper in Stockholm in May 2000. The emphasis is not only on \u2018local needs, problems and priorities,\u2019 but also on the \u2018involvement of local population.\u2019<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there are some people in Sri Lanka who consider all matters in one \u2018political soup.\u2019 They are overwhelmingly men. For them, \u2018division of labour\u2019 or \u2018differentiation of tasks\u2019 are not important or simply incomprehensible (except in the case of gender matters!). For them, \u2018the legislative, the executive and the judicial\u2019 tasks are the same, or they should be handled all-together. Likewise, there is no or should not be much difference between \u2018national, provincial or local tasks.\u2019 All are the same or should be handled in the same manner. This is in a way the \u2018unitary thinking.\u2019 Not that they not involve local people. But they promote local people to \u2018revere them\u2019 or revere some \u2018supreme leaders\u2019 even above them. This is \u2018Kim Il-sung\u2019 thinking.<\/p>\n

I am not saying that local politics should be completely divorced from national or provincial politics. But there should be some reasonable limits and demarcations. Even local government institutions can and should be \u2018sounding boards,\u2019 to mean echoing local needs and also ideas to the provincial and national levels. However, this should be divorced from blindly going behind national politicians or politics. This is about intensifying micro level democratic governance.<\/p>\n

The level of alienation of some local councillors\/politicians from \u2018local interests\u2019 was recently demonstrated starkly by their polarization on the leadership issues particularly within the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). At a Negombo meeting in February, it was reported that a majority of the SLFP local councillors wanted a \u2018Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> come back.\u2019 Even thereafter, the local councillors of the Western Province (SLFP) met for the same purpose.<\/p>\n

It is understandable, if those councillors got together to demand for an early election. Or if they expressed their leadership choice as party members. But this was completely different. They have never in the past to my knowledge met to discuss \u2018how to improve performance or services to the people.\u2019 This shows that their main concerns are distortedly \u2018national,\u2019 and not local.<\/p>\n

Causes of Alienation<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a historical fact that in the formation of political parties or political mobilizations in Sri Lanka, local\/village representatives and leaders were often utilized by national leaders as potent force. There is nothing particularly wrong in that. But even that should not be at the expense of local interests. Sri Lanka is a country where there has been a long tradition of vibrant or rather \u2018autonomous\u2019 village organizations of \u2018Gam Sabhas<\/em>.\u2019 Those traditions should be continued and strengthened. The local leaders of those days were committed to the village and community interests. This was the case before, and even after the independence, well into the 1970s, when the distortions started to take place.<\/p>\n

The importance can be highlighted in other ways as well. For example, if a responsive and vibrant local government system had existed, calamities like \u2018Rathupaswala<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u2019 could have been avoided before developing into national crises. At \u2018Rathupaswala<\/span><\/em><\/a>,\u2019 it was a matter of ground water pollution, coming clearly under the purview of the local government of the area in the first place.<\/p>\n

What has happened in recent past is the alienation of local councillors from local needs, interests or the people for several reasons. One of the primary reasons for the situation is the \u2018abolition of the Ward system\u2019 where a local councillor previously was elected and linked to the people in a contiguous area. Although the proportional representation had some merits, since a candidate for election had to receive votes from the whole council area, it required more and more money on a competitive basis and thus leading to corrupt and insidious practices aggravated by the \u2018Manape<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u2019 (preferential vote) competition. The system also propelled electoral violence, much publicised killing of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra<\/span><\/a> in 2011 being one prominent incident.<\/p>\n

The system discouraged the \u2018educated, women and moderate income groups\u2019 contesting from political parties or independently. Independent individual candidates had special disadvantages because they had to contest as \u2018groups\u2019 and tender exorbitant deposits. There was a \u2018monopoly\u2019 created for the political parties. It was the National Secretary of the party or his agent who has to submit the nomination papers. Independence or the views of the local party organizations were often neglected.<\/p>\n

Amendment in 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

There had been many positive discussions and initiatives on the electoral system, but a major weakness was to consider what was \u2018good or bad\u2019 for the national system, to be equally the same for the local government system. This was a wrong assumption. The 2012 local government electoral reforms were based on this assumption. In addition, there were many \u2018technical\u2019 defects in that piece of legislation, perhaps showing the \u2018diminishing quality\u2019 of legislative enactments in the country in general.<\/p>\n

As the Chairman of the NEC has pointed out, the legislation leaves it blank who is supposed to call the local government elections. There are many other \u2018technical\u2019 issues as he has pointed out. The Commission has also taken up the issue of declaration of \u2018assets and liabilities.\u2019 It is absolutely a farce. According to the amendment, an election should be held not less than five weeks and not more than seven weeks of nominations. However, the declaration of assets and liabilities can be submitted within three months and that means even after the elections. It is also not specified who should submit the declarations, the candidates or the party secretary\/group leaders. There is no penalty specified for the defaulters. Of course some of the defects are within the primary legislation.<\/p>\n

Most horrendous is the deposit system. It is only Rs. 5,000 for a party candidate. But for an independent candidate, it is a whopping 20,000. The independent candidates have to contest as a list. The list should be equivalent to the number of wards (N), + 30 percent under the 2012 amendment, and another + 25 percent under the recent amendment. The main consequence is the amount of deposits that they have to submit. It is completely discriminatory for independent candidates, in my opinion, who should and could play a major role in local government matters.<\/p>\n

It is hilarious to note that while the deposits should be submitted by the party secretary\/agent, or the leader in the case of independent candidates, if the deposits are not forfeited, they will be returned to the candidates.<\/p>\n

There are so many other deficiencies and defects, but most glaring is the following.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside the polling station, [there should be] a notice specifying the names of candidates as indicated by each recognized political party and independent group, in alphabetical order in Sinhala<\/span> and the approved symbol allotted to each such party or group.\u201d (My emphasis).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is possible for someone to argue that the above means \u2018the Sinhala alphabet\u2019 and not \u2018the notice of names in Sinhala.\u2019 However, it is not possible because in the same amendment what is prescribed before is not the \u2018Sinhala alphabet\u2019 but the English alphabet. I have tried my best to locate the Sinhala version of the Amended Act (2012) to dispel any doubts, but even it is not available in the ministry website. What was available in Sinhala under \u2018Panath<\/em>\u2019 (Acts), until today, were the Special Provisions Act (30 of 2013) on Recruitment and some other instruments\/documents on management improvement.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is my submission that \u2018Sinhala only<\/span><\/a>\u2019 has come into the picture in the Amendment under the previous Rajapaksa administration, and it would be completely discriminatory and absurd to post notices outside polling stations in Sinhala only, in predominantly Tamil speaking areas, to say the least.<\/p>\n

New Amendment (2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Compared to the 2012 Amendment, the new Amendment undoubtedly is progressive. It ensures 25 percent women representation in all local government institutions. The position was only 1.8 percent under the previous system, one of the lowest in Asia. The 2012 amendment did allow, discretionary 30 percent nominations for women and youth, but the provisions were absolutely vague. The \u2018nomination\u2019 also does not mean \u2018representation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Therefore, the new Amendment (2016) is commendable, but it has also created certain other anomalies or inconsistencies. Let me briefly touch on some of those problems.<\/p>\n

What is in store under both amendments is a hybrid system. After a certain number of councillors elected from wards (both single and multi-member), the 2012 amendment provides to elect another 30 percent under a particular \u2018proportional formula.\u2019 Now the 2016 amendment provides another 25 percent women representation under a \u2018different proportional formula.\u2019 My first point is that this is going to be unnecessarily excessive in terms of numbers.<\/p>\n

According to the preliminary delimitation (August 2015) the number of ward members would be 5,099 for 336 local government bodies. Under the hybrid principle of 2012, this will be increased to 6,628. Under the new amendment, it will be again increased to 8,285. It appears that the politicians, on both sides, are going by the \u2018more the merrier principle.\u2019 The existing number is 4,486 and the increase is about 85 percent.<\/p>\n

There are other anomalies created which could be a nightmare for the elections commission. (1) The two prescribed proportional formulas are different, although the new formula is simple and logical. (2) The 2012 amendment prescribed a single nomination list, while the new amendment prescribes two lists. (3) The prescribed 2012 list is in \u2018alphabetical order,\u2019 while the new list for women representation is in \u2018priority order.\u2019<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the upside, the new amendment prevents manipulation of lists by party leaders after elections. Also the prescribed proportional representation allows smaller parties to achieve representation, even if they fail to win wards or get through under the 30 percent. However, this is through women representatives. The new amendment firmly ensures 25 percent women representation in local bodies.<\/p>\n

Whatever the other weaknesses or drawbacks, if the New Amendment had substituted the proportional component (30 percent) of the 2012 amendment, not only that most of the inconsistencies could have been avoided, but the numbers also could have been kept under a reasonable level. That is why I consider that the new \u2018amendment for women representation\u2019 has come near a solution to the LG conundrum, but have failed to achieve it. The government may still consider changing the situation, but quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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