LG system to stay with amends

ISLAMABAD â€" President Asif Ali Zardari has asked Speaker National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza to constitute a parliamentary committee to recommend amendments in the local government system introduced by his predecessor General (r) Pervez Musharraf.

The mandate of Committee would include recommending amendments in the Local Government Ordinance 2001 to remove flaws that caused its failure and to make it compatible to the needs of the time

According to well-placed sources, despite wishing so to do away with the Musharraf’s introduced devolution of power instrumented through the Ordinance, the PPP government was handcuffed by the international financial institutions conditionality on development assistance. “The IFIs chiefly the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank constantly financing development across the country would never allow the incumbent government to simply abolish the devolution of power system, though half baked, introduced by the former regime through the Ordinance,� the sources added.

As far as the taxation and development at the local level are concerned the government is bound to follow the principle of “no taxation without representation as well as development through elected representatives.� Therefore, the elected local governments would remain empowered to tax at the local level besides setting the development spending priorities.