Editorial
Passage of city corporations bill in JS
Move should lead to a strengthening of local bodies
THE passage of the local government (city corporations) bill by the Jatiyo Sangsad on Monday is cause for satisfaction. It is so because the move came after the JS rejected the recommendations made by a standing committee of the House to the effect that lawmakers be given advisory roles in the corporations. With all the recent emphasis placed on a promotion and strengthening of democracy at all tiers of politics and administration, it is only natural to expect that local bodies, both in the metropolitan areas and across the country, will wield unfettered authority and will thus be in a position to ensure economic and social development. In such circumstances, when suggestions are made that MPs should be given powers to virtually supervise the working of such elected bodies as upazila parishads and city corporations, the question of a conflictual arrangement naturally comes to the fore.
Happily for everyone, the probability of such a conflict receding is now before us. With the House unwilling to accept the recommendations of the relevant parliamentary standing committee on the city corporations, the way should now be clear for other similar obstacles in the way of the local government system to be removed. A hint of it comes through reports of the government rethinking the recent law making MPs advisors to upazila parishads in their constituencies. The move has already triggered a wave of protest from elected upazila chairmen and members, who have rightly seen in it a clear attempt to dilute their authority and make them beholden to lawmakers even though they are themselves elected representatives of the people as MPs are. Indeed, the move to give MPs an advisory role over the upazila parishads has had a wide range of people and professions in the country riled because such a move clearly threatens to leave the upazila parishads in an emasculated position. We are happy that policymakers in the government seem to be coming to terms with reality. Once the upazila parishads are made independent, the process of ensuring a smooth and productive working of the UZ parishads can truly begin.
As for members of Parliament, their role is clearly laid down in the constitution. They will ensure a proper working of the executive branch of government; they will have unfettered authority to frame laws for the country; and they will make certain that government remains accountable to the country through the working of the standing committees. Through ensuring a full, proper and transparent working of Parliament, lawmakers will be guaranteeing a full, undisturbed flowering of democracy in the country, right from the grassroots and all the way to the top.
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