Local Government Institutions: Have They Failed?

By Prof. Wiswa Warnapala

Children taking part in a protest organized by ‘Women For Rights’ protest recently opposite the Fort Railway Station against government’s failure to curb violence against women and children.

PR System

The system of proportional representation, unlike under the first-past-the-post system, produced a category of local politicians, whose shameful actions, ranging from open thuggery, abuse of power, rape to assault, are reported in the daily newspapers. It is disturbing to see that the political parties are silent regarding this destructive trend in the local politics of the country. Political leadership at this level has deteriorated to such a level due entirely to the kind of individual promoted as the party candidate by the recognised political parties. The blame, singularly, needs to be placed at the doorstep of the political party. Citizens across the country, including fair-minded politicians, have been alarmed at the increasingly large number of reports, appearing regularly, on the nature and content of the deterioration of politics and lack of probity among the political leaders.There is indeed a crisis of credibility and confidence in the local politician. Leaders, too, cannot effectively voice the need to cleanse the system of undesirable elements because some of the culprits are active clients of powerful individuals. The choice of leaders has been restricted by political parties nominating known criminals or drug dealers as candidates; such individuals include those who have amassed wealth and raised private armies to intimidate the electorate.

Sri Lankan political parties have been imprudent in choosing candidates, and thorough assessments have not been made as to the ability and capacity of those nominated to direct the affairs of an institution. They are chosen not because they are competent but because they can "buy the votes" by spending millions and by exerting and employing influence through various undemocratic and underworld tactics. There are different roads to notoriety, and most of the elected persons at this level have converted notoriety into a valuable political resource. It is this practice that has perhaps prevented the skilled and the talented from entering local legislatures. In the recent past, the Sri Lankan electorate, with all its volatility and experience, displayed a marked tendency to reject honest people with educational qualifications and experience. James Bryce has written, "Treat are the blessings of equality; but what follies are committed in its name". This is an apt description in the Sri Lankan electoral context.

Trust

As John Locke says, government is a relationship built on trust, and it is this trust that has been betrayed by the local government politicians by indulging in unethical and illegal practices. Such individuals are unfit to exercise political power, even at the lowest local level, over his fellow men and women, who are the voters, Such individuals, as the Sri Lankan experience amply demonstrates, are disinterested in the needs of the locality; instead they satisfy their own desires and interests, for which power and office are employed as a powerful instrument, and the eternal struggle to obtain benefits, both financial and material, has become the style of leadership, for which powerful party stalwarts provide both official and personal support. Informal links with the powerful have become an effective political resource. Such individuals receive governmental benefits in exchange for political support for a powerful politician in the area.This is a vicious circle operating at the local level, which political parties ought to be ashamed of and concerned about.

Local government institutions have been set up to transfer power to the people on the basis of the concept of "power to the people", and it was rightly thought that the system, with its expansion, would be more democratic and more efficient in the delivery of services; the purpose overtly was to generate a larger interest in good governance. Today, under a form of representation described more democratic, some amateurs have taken over these institutions and the majority of the leadership at this level has abused power and responsibility entrusted to them.This criticism is not aimed at stressing the need to resurrect the leadership of the "notables’ of the Donoughmore period, but to convince the established political parties to change the quality and the profile of those nominated as power-brokers at the local level. Indeed, the country is not devoid of suitable candidates who could be trained as good managers of local government institutions. The political parties have to make a genuine effort to cleanse the local leadership of undesirable rowdy elements who have tarnished the good name of political parties. Management of a local government is a serious task, requiring honesty, ability, vision, attention and care.It should not be treated as a form of patronage extended to relatives and friends who help the leading politicians to collect manapes (preferential votes) at a general election. This is an aspect of a quasi-feudal tradition, which, a modern political party should not adopt as a policy. This, at present, is totally discredited.

Transformation

Over the years, the face of local government institutions has undergone a dramatic transformation, and it was thought that it produced the true representative of the people through the PR system of representation. New representatives it produced at this level illustrate the nature of the changing profile of the local politician who is, not at all, interested in public good. Hooliganism of a rare kind has entered the chambers of local councils and their rowdy behaviour at council meetings is a common occurrence.The concern of the local politician is to make use of his position to amass wealth and influence; enough examples could be quoted to prove the point, which is probably subject to controversy. One might be able to say that the changing profile of the local political leadership has a direct relationship to the local socio-economic and development profile of the locality. The arrival of large development projects is to the great advantage of the local politician who knows the manner in which it can be used to his advantage, and it, above all, enhances the spheres of his influence.

Hence, the aforementioned changing profile of the local politician has directly contributed to the inevitable politicization of the local public bureaucracy. The local government institutions, as stated earlier, cannot function efficiently with a view to performing functions as required by the needs of the locality because the leadership in these institutions has a different agenda, according to which certain services, from which various gains could be extracted, receive priority. The provision of basic services, as the disposal of garbage, suffers, and the leaders, more than to voters, extend loyalty to the party apparatus as it is the ultimate authority deciding on nominations. What really concerns those at the top is how many bus loads the politician is able to bring in for the May Day or for the Party Anniversary. This deteriorating trend could be arrested by introducing the Ward system as proposed by the Select Committee on Electoral Reforms, through which the elected member could be made answerable and accountable to the electorate. Such a change is certain to transform the performance of the local government institutions, whose constant and effective intervention, for instance, in the delivery of preventive health care would guarantee the improvement of environmental hygiene and sanitation, which is certain to make a positive impact on the energies and functions devoted to the eradication of diseases such as dengue in the country.