The Governance Advocacy Forum proposed 22 short- and medium-term recommendations on Saturday aimed at overhauling local government structures to balance power between bureaucrats and elected representatives.
The forum hosted a roundtable dialogue titled "Reforms in Local Government in the Light of Democratic Decentralisation and Public Desire" at the CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital.
Keynote speaker Prof Mobasser Monem from Dhaka University highlighted issues of discrimination and inequality within local government and presented ten short-term and twelve medium-term reform proposals.
Addressing the dialogue as chief guest, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Adviser MF Hasan Arif said political will of elected representatives must be firm to strengthen the local government structures.
Short-term reform proposals included abolition of the provision regarding the advisory role of MPs in local government institutions, enforcement of the role and secretarial duties of Upazila Nirbahi Officer according to law, determination of Upazila Vice-Chairmen's role and responsibilities, clarification of the roles and responsibilities of currently elected women representatives, updating the Local Government Model Tax Schedule and allocation of government funds to all levels of local government following specific formula.
Prof Monem recommended empower mayors and chairmen of all local government institutions to oversee, monitor and write their Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) on the activities of government officials and employees working in their areas, increase public participation in along with inclusion of more citizen representatives in the committees and hold local government elections on a non-partisan basis.
Medium term reform proposals included scrapping of overlapping and ambiguities in all local government laws, state service activities (education, health, agriculture etc.) under local government institutions as per law, provision for direct election of women representatives on a rotational basis by reserving one-third of seats at all levels of local government and conversion of District Commissioner's office into Zilla Parishad office.
In that case, Deputy Commissioner or District Executive Officer will provide secretarial support to the District Council.
Prof Monem proposed conducting tax review and collection activities at the district level in the light of the National Tax Policy under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner and implementing digital tax collection.
"Make the district council as the centre of the economic development activities of the district and to determine the size of their projects in order to take up big projects," he recommended.
He emphasised transparency and accountability of local government institutions including strengthening web-based monitoring systems and specifying and implementing monitoring and evaluation processes.
He demanded immediate formation and implementation of a permanent Local Government Commission.
"Increase the development allocation for local government in the national budget, requested the Professor.
Founder of Wave Foundation Mohsin Ali moderated the discussion.
Adviser Arif emphasised the need for stronger local government structures in the region.
"Despite over a hundred years of local government framework in the subcontinent, we have yet to empower it effectively. While laws exist, their implementation remains a challenge. The political will of elected representatives must be firm, and demands for local government reforms must be presented to the elected government," he said.
The Adviser noted that local government institutions in Bangladesh face significant challenges due to a lack of authority, manpower, financial capacity, and management issues, particularly at the union council level.
He mentioned conflicts among parliament members, upazila council chairpersons, and UNOs, which hampers the proper functioning of upazila councils.
Mohsin Ali highlighted that despite various efforts to strengthen local governance since independence, corruption and authoritarianism have undermined these initiatives.
He stressed that local representatives, often preoccupied with their party agendas, neglect public aspirations.
"We need to ensure transparency and accountability in our local government system while enhancing capacity to foster public engagement," he said.
