KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Thursday that the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will empower the people of Karachi, adding that his government was still open to incorporating justified inputs of all political stakeholders to make the law better.

Talking to the media in Karachi, the chief minister said that his government had discussed the proposed amendments with the opposition parties before bringing them into the assembly. “It was the opposition’s proposal that towns have been created in the city in place of DMCs and now they have started playing politics,” he said.

He said that the educational institutions and health facilities have been taken away from the local bodies in the public interest because they have failed to run them properly, but in their place, we have given them all the municipal functions and representation in other civic agencies.

He further said the government would remove a clause from the bill that allowed “any person” to be elected as mayor or deputy mayor without contesting the local government elections.

Last month, the Sindh Assembly had unanimously passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The bill was presented in the provincial assembly by Provincial Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussian Shah.

The opposition members raised slogans and tore the copies of the agenda before walking out of the assembly when the house gave clause-by-clause approval to the bill. The opposition legislators claimed that they had not been given copies of the bill in advance to go through its contents.

Opposition parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) opposed the new local government bill.

Talking about Sindh Governor Imran Ismail's objections to the bill, the chief minister said his government would accept some changes proposed by him to the new local government law.

He said the government has accepted the governor’s proposal on the voting method for the election of mayor and deputy mayors. "The election would be held using a show of hands vote instead of secrete ballots," he said.

Earlier this week, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail refused to approve the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2021 and returned it to the Sindh Assembly for reconsideration.

“I have returned the bill and asked them [Sindh Assembly] to fix it before the final nod,” said Ismail. “The bill in fact negates the spirit of democracy and it finally brings the local governments under the provincial government with no authority or power and disallows every source which could generate resources for the LG representatives. How a democratic party or system can allow this model to get in place for the local governments?”

Earlier in the week, the ECP decided to put off the delimitation process for local government elections in Sindh at the request of the provincial government. Murad Ali Shah, who met Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Wednesday, sought two weeks’ time to complete the legislation with consensus.

Already, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) has challenged Sindh Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Significant changes

The most significant change introduced in the amendment bill was to replace districts status with towns in metropolitan corporations of the province, including Karachi. As per the amendment bill, the population of each town will hover around 0.5 million to 0.75 million people.

Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital would be transferred to the Sindh government as envisaged in the new amendment law. In addition, the municipal agencies will no more supervise primary healthcare centers in the province.

The bill also paves the way for new municipal elections in the province next year.

Nasir Hussain Shah said the new bill incorporated the suggestions from the opposition’s parliamentarians to improve the existing local government system that he had already received. He added that the new amendment bill envisages the strengthening of the municipal agencies in the province.

This article was first published in Business Recorder on Dec 9, 2021.