LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY AND GOVERNANCE: A CASE STUDY OF KARACHI, SINDH

Abstract

The paper critically evaluates prospects of, and difficulties faced by the local government system in Karachi, Sindh. This paper will assess the degree of autonomy of the local government in Karachi and will study about the depraved practices of local government that end up as a failure in the form of crippled autonomy and governance of a city. Further, the study proposes recommendations to increase cooperation among all the three tiers of the government. For drawing practical results, the study uses data of survey of418 respondents from various departments of local governments and 20 interviews from the key stakeholders including politicians, bureaucrats from finance and resource departments and key informants including people from journalism, judiciary, research, and academia. By employing Oates (1972) decentralization theorem as a theoretical framework, the study has found that there are three important facets. Firstly, Provincial governments’ interference in the affairs of local government contribute to a lack of autonomy and governance in Karachi. Secondly, insufficient financial resources are reasonable constraints to the performance and functioning of local government, undermining the financial autonomy of the local governments (LGs) in Karachi. Last but not the least, the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013 and the amendment to act in 2021 undermine the functional autonomy of the local governments in Karachi. The SLGA 2013 limits much of the functions of the local governments by creating hurdles in service delivery and implementation of effective governance in the city.

In the light of the above, the study proposes three policy recommendations to restore the autonomy of the local government and to improve the governance in Karachi.  Firstly, to restore the financial autonomy of the local governments in Karachi, the provincial government should allow local governments to collect and levy taxes which fall under the domain of local governments. Secondly, local governments should be empowered to collect property tax, user charges for service delivery, motor vehicle tax, entertainment tax, non-receipt tax etc. Lastly, for an effective service delivery, provincial governments must rollback some of the functions of SLGA 2013 to promote the functional autonomy of LGs in Karachi. The study also suggests amendments into the constitution through fair legislation in which the functions, structure, and powers of LGs should be clearly defined