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Decentralisation
Effective Tool For Development

Ram Chandra Pokhrel

DECENTRALISATION implementation and Monitoring Committee in its third meeting concluded recently passed a comprehensive "Decentralisation Implementation Plan" (DIP), a remarkable milestone in the direction of the implementation of Local Self Governance Act, 2055. Local Self-Governance Act (LSGA) published in Nepal Gazette on Dec 30, 1999, is a historic document of a great commitment for decentralisation.

In its beginning LSGA upheld the spirit of Constitution and ensured the utmost participation of the sovereign people in the process of governance by way of decentralisation.

The act has a provision of a high level body—"Decentralisation Implementation and Monitoring Committee" (DIMC) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and a working committee chaired by the Minister for Local Development to carry on the decision of the committee. This is yet another commitment to make it a success. Highlighting its status as an "apex body", a joint review on decentralisation in Nepal made by HMGN/Donors’ underlined that DIMC is to supervise, co-ordinate and monitor the decentralisation process as a whole.

Some still ask, "What is DIMC?" But many of them who are aware of it inquire, "What is DIMC doing?" While still others who are concerned about the decentralisation process in Nepal curiously ask, "Why DIMC is not being active?" These are the questions about DIMC and DIMWC we encounter regularly.

To get a more clear picture, we must have to go through LSGA that defines the task of HMG/N which is responsible to "implement policy, co-ordinte and monitor decentralisation through DIMC’. Upon deeper exploration no one can deny the fact that DIMC, which in short is also known as "Monitoring Committee", does not necessarily directly get involved in the implementation process. Rather its main responsibility is to supervise, co-ordinate and monitor the whole process of decentralisation to make it a success in the context of Nepal.

According to the provision made in LSGA, the committee is supreme and independent in the functioning. It has to chalk out its own procedure and action plan conducive to the policy set in the act. Similarly the working committee also can move ahead only after getting the green signal of the apex body.

The third meeting held under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Sher Bdr./Deuba on Jan 8, 2002, made a clear departure from the past by issusing clear directly and guidelines to all concerned for a clear goal. The Prime Minister gave instructions to the government agencies and other stakeholders about a fully committed implementation of decentralisation to work within a fixed time frame and also instructed for bi-montly reviews and progress reports to be submitted to the Prime Minister’s office and the committee’s office accordingly. The working committee as provisioned in the act, has been made responsible for the submission of the bi-monthly progress report.

We should not forget that in its second meeting held on 28 March 2001 under the Chairmanship of the then Prime Minister G.P. Koirala the DIMC had approved working procedures of the committee, and also had taken major decisions for the effective implementation of the act. According to the decisions, the line ministries were instructed to set up sections/divisions at each ministry to move forward with the spirit and action of decentralisation and to assign a focal person responsible for it. As per clause 243, concerned line ministries were instructed to classify the development programs as early as possible as mentioned in the budget speech for the current fiscal year. Moreover, they were instructed to develop a regular review system for decentralisation. Earlier the first meeting of DIMC was held under the chairmanship of the then Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai at the same venue Singh Durbar with a commitment to develop authority to local bodies’ gradually. The committee, according to the cluase 241 (3) has to submit a report each year to the development committee of the House of Representatives. Naturally this helps enhance the relation of the committee with the parliament. Parliamentarians are the key figures and should know all about the development in the decentralisation process because political commitments have to be finally approved by the members of the parliament.

In this whole process the Ministery of Local Development (MLD) has a major role to play. Besides the role of line ministry, it also has to act as a liaison ministry. LSGA has given it an additional responsibility to be more concerned with the act and its regulations. As mentioned in the act, the Minister for Local Development and MLD secretary are Vice Chairman and member secretary of the committee respectively. Similarly the minister chairs the working committee, and the secretary is the exofficio member in the nine member working committee. Therefore the praise and failure rests on MLD for its action or lack of action related to decentralisation. Though MLD has not been assigned the role of a super ministry, it is obligated to take initiatives to implement the Local Self Governance Act Regulations. Similarly as the role of DIMC gains momentum. MLD will then gradually find itself in an easy position to make its own role effective in this direction. In the process it might be less burdened by DIMC and might perhaps emerge as a whip if it plays its role properly in the field of local self-governance and decentralisation.

After the third meeting of DIMC, an urgent need was felt to initiate the establishment of a full-fledged secretariat of the working committee. The DIP that encompasses the wide-ranging area and covers the whole programme related to LSGA, naturally needs a mechanism for an effective monitoring. To make the supervision and co-ordination effective, the mechanism has to be workable. Since it is the beginning of a process much can be achieved if the job is done properly and sincerely. Therefore it is a high time to take necessary steps properly and prudently.

Despite various lapses, the nation has clearly pinned high hopes on its initiatives in decentralisation at a certain height in South Asia. In the direction of policy making, no doubt, we have achieved a remarkable milestone. Regarding implementation we have to translate our commitment into action. Therefore the implementation plan should be put at the core of our national plan being chalked out as the Tenth Plan.

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