EDEN BUILDING TO STOCK EXCHANGE Published: 12:18 AM, 19 January 2020
https://dailyasianage.com/news/214715/open-letter-to-my-next-city-mayor
Open letter to my next city mayor M S Siddiqui Local government is generally defined as the lowest tier of public administration within a given State. In unitary States like Bangladesh, local government usually comprises the second or third tier of government. Local government aims at bringing government to the grass roots and enabling citizens to participate effectively in the making of decisions affecting their daily lives. It is noteworthy that the principles of subsidiarity, decentralization and accountability are explicitly envisaged in a number of countries as main principles of local government. Furthermore, the respective laws provide for the right of local authorities to have recourse to a judicial remedy in order to ensure respect for such principles. Local governments provide a range of local services, preserve the life and liberty of residents, creating space for democratic participation and civic dialogue, supporting market-led and environmentally sustainable local development. As the level closest to the citizens, local government is, in principle, in a much better position than central government to deal with matters that require local knowledge and regulation on the basis of local needs and priorities. Local governments possess certain powers conferred upon them by constitution, legislation or directives of the higher levels of government. These powers consist, in substance, in regulating and managing certain public affairs related to the local surroundings and delivering certain public services. In general, in unitary States, central governments tend to shoulder the responsibility for the planning, programming, regulating and funding of houses, and local governments manage implementation of those plans with varying degrees of autonomy. Our constitution has emphasized decentralization, giving importance to local government institutions for planning and development activities at the local level. Article59 of the Bangladesh constitution allowed bodies composed of elected representatives to run local government. In some countries, the city council functions as the city's legislative body adopting laws and ordinances as allowed by federal and state law. Council members are elected by the city's citizens as prescribed by state and local law. The mayor's interaction with the council is determined by local laws. In some cities, the mayor presides over the council and in other cities, the mayor has nothing to do with official council actions. Some cities give the mayor veto power over council decisions. One of the important features of local government is that it has a specific, subordinate regulatory power for the exercise of its function which is, however, subject to compliance with the national law. City Corporation in Bangladesh makes some rules and directives mostly through the administrative procedure and the meeting of Councillors just approve in the meeting. The
administration under the control of Chief Executive, a government bureaucrat work under deputation, is used to control everything bypassing the Mayor and the Councillors. Government of Bangladesh provides various utility services viz., water, sanitation, electricity, gas, waste collection, among others, to urban dwellers. However, the satisfaction level of those utility services among the recipients varies widely. In Dhaka city, the services are taken care of by other agencies. Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (DWASA) provides water and sanitation services. Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDCO) is responsible for providing electricity to the DSCC (southern part), whereas Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) serves the DCCC (northern part). The Mayors have no direct authority over these government departments. The Metropolitan Police and Fire Service is under the Ministry of Home. The disaster Management department is under a separate Ministry. But the Mayor is the Chairman of the City Corporation Disaster Management Committee (CCDMC). Moreover, all the service providing agencies are directly work under different Ministries. There are about 40 different agencies under fifteen different ministries active in Dhaka, deciding what is good or bad for the city, while the elected representatives are kept waiting in the sidelines. Those agencies have their own agenda and get the allocation of their resources from the national government. In the current system, the Mayor and the Ward Commissioners are elected by popular vote. Though they get all the blames for the problems in the city, they do not have any control over the development activities by different development agencies under different ministries. They do not have any role in resource allocation and identification of development priorities by these development agencies. A top-down management system against the requirement of a bottom-up system is practised. Most of the development works are under another department namely Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and The Environment Directorate is under another Ministry. Dhaka City Corporation Ordinance is the basic law regarding street/drain cleaning, waste collection and transportation. City Corporations are primarily responsible for secondary waste collection removing waste from dustbins/containers and transporting the waste to final disposal sites. Moreover, community-based organizations (CBO), non-governmental organisations (NGO) and private entities are allowed to provide door-to-door waste collection services in all wards. The role of local authorities should not be limited to mere executors of decisions taken and policies developed without them. On the other hand, local independence should have certain limits clearly prescribed by law, and mechanisms should be available for supervising the legality of local authorities' activities. Democratic checks and balances mechanisms are essential for augmenting the capability of local government in performance as a true local government. The degree of self-government enjoyed by local authorities can be regarded as a key element of genuine democracy. In this regard, political, fiscal and administrative decentralization is essential for localizing democracy. To ensure effective local governance and adequate implementation of basic human rights of employment, shelter and education at the local level, it is important to have a proper legal framework for local government. The organization, powers and functions should be clearly prescribed by law. Further, national legislation should delineate clearly the responsibilities and powers of central and local government authorities in relation to one another.
Dhaka has been identified as the most competitive city in Bangladesh. It is also the administrative, social and cultural centre of the country. The Greater Dhaka is relatively affluent compared to other areas of the country. The non-farm sector's progress is better in the Dhaka possibly of urbanization and the agglomeration of economic activities. As a result, economic growth is high in Dhaka than in other regions. A study on the competitiveness of the cities in Bangladesh shows that Dhaka, with a total score of 7.31 out the most competitive city in Bangladesh. But Dhaka is not competitive among the cities of South Asia and failed to attract overseas investment in businesses. The City Corporation may look into their part of Ease of Doing Business such as the issue of Trade Licence, Issue of Building Permit, and Transportations etc. Despite all these rules and regulation, what Mayors of (North and South) do and think is obviously an important influence in many cities. Mayors generally head the political and administrative parts of urban governments that are so important to low-income groups with regard to the potential for getting or building housing (or land for housing), being able to pursue livelihoods, having access to water, sanitation, health care and education, and often for the rule of law. Bangladesh economy is one of the fasted growing in the world and the process of urbanization is logically very rapid. Dhaka Mega City is the centre point of economic and administrative activities of Bangladesh. Dhaka has experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades. However, the city's infrastructure and basic utility service provisions lag behind its physical expansion making it one of the least liveable cities in the world. Dhaka is consistently rated as the least liveable location among the 140 cities surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit, among others. Due to rapid growth and increased economic activities, the natural environment has been seriously hampered. Water, air and soil have been polluted seriously. Due to excessive population and inadequate roads and lack of open space, the city becomes unliveable. Most of the citizen of Dhaka city has no access to pure drinking water which is very much essential for human existence. The rich enjoy all the modern immunities of like but the majority of the population compelled to lead a miserable inhuman life. More than one-third of the population lives in slums, the slums dwellers are deprived of basic human needs. The roads and streets are under the control of rich families, possessing private cars. Due to unplanned housing and Roads, the general people have minimal excess to roads and streets and even they have no safety on the roads. Even the citizen is unable to walk on the footpath. In a survey of BRAC University in the recent years observed that majority respondents of nonslum and slum areas were dissatisfied (either partially or completely) regarding the quality and reliability of power, water, sanitation and waste management. There is no political commitment to the empowerment of local government but the blame for all irregularities goes to Mayors. The role of local government and empowerment of elected reprehensive should be re-defined as per the constitution. Mr Mayor, Can you get the law amended to empower yourself and serve as our elected representative? The writer is a legal economist. Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com