Local Democracy
No Alternative To Local Polls

By Mukti Rijal

THE Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 provides no explicit articulation of the local government scheme. The basic law of the land has not laid down any blueprint of local government units. The Preamble to the Constitution emphasises on the participation of people in the affairs of the state.

Balanced Development

In the chapter of the Directive Principle to the State Policies, the Constitution emphasises the goal of balanced development in various geographical regions of the country and mobilisation of natural resources in a manner beneficial to the national interest. Article 24 of the Constitution is more specific. It gives the state a responsibility.

Article 46 of the Constitution implies a structure for decentralised units. It provides that fifteen members - three from each of the development regions - shall be elected to the Upper House of Parliament (National Assembly) by an Electoral College consisting of the Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of Village-level units, Mayors and Deputy Mayors of Municipalities, and Presidents and Vice-presidents of District Development Committees (DDCs). Implicit in this constitutional provision are two levels of decentralised units, which are Village (Town) and District.

The participation of local bodies in the election of the Upper House of the Parliament is a unique provision in itself. But those elected to the Upper House by the electoral college of local bodies have not been found truly representing the interest of their electorate specially when issues concerning the local bodies come up for consideration and deliberation in the Parliament.

No specific stipulation of local government in the Constitution has also been described as a historic error. Former Prime Minister and the communist leader Manmohan Adhikari who passed away some three years ago is on the record to have remarked, "It is my concern that the decentralised governance scheme has not been incorporated as a part of the Constitution. The status of decentralisation created by an act of parliament is weaker."

However, mere stipulation about local government and decentralisation in the Constitution is not sufficient. The statutory framework of decentralisation works successfully provided there exists political culture of decentralized governance and tradition of people's participation. Values, traditions and attitudes of politicians, officials and people can foster or endanger the implementation of a particular legal concept.

The Local Government Acts - the District Development Act, the Municipality Act and the Village Development Act - provided a legal framework for two-tier local government system in Nepal. According to these Acts which have now been replaced by the Local Self-governance Act, the District Development Committee is at the apex of the local government. At the lower level, there are Municipalities and Village Development Committees (VDCs).

The country has seventy-five District Development Committees and each DDC is subdivided into a number of areas (Ilakas) for the purpose of election. Each Village Development Committee is divided into nine wards while municipalities are divided into nine to thirty six wards. At present there are 3913 Village Development Committees and 58 municipalities in the country. Each local body District Development Committee, Municipality and Village Development Committee has its executive and legislative organ. The Acts had entrusted functions and responsibilities to the local bodies in the realm of education, health, agriculture, transport, social welfare etc. Local bodies were granted power to raise taxes, fees and charges to strengthen the local resource base. The Acts had given local bodies authority to resolve minor disputes at the local level. However, they were not authorised to award any kind of decisions resulting into win and lose of the disputes.

The Local Governance Act constitutes a consolidation of the three acts relating to VDCs, DDCs and Municipalities and brings them together into a comprehensive code. The Act is, indeed, a culmination of protracted process starting from the constitution of the High level Decentralization Committee in 1996 formed to recommend improvements in the decentralisation framework of the country. The Committee headed by the Prime Minister endorsed a report prepared by the Decentralization Working Committee (DWC). The report provided an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing legal framework and made recommendations in strengthening decentralization and local government system. The report pinpointed in no uncertain terms that the local bodies lacked institutional administrative capacity and financial mandates to develop themselves as the viable units of decentralisation and self-governance.

Finally, the Local Self-governance Act was enacted in the summer session of the parliament in 1998.
Important

The Act has been in operation for about three years and it has established an important basis in furthering decentralized governance in Nepal. However, gains achieved so far have been in crisis. The local bodies are bereft of the elected representatives. The government has pledged to hold local polls soon. There should not be any second thought on it. This will infuse life in local democracy and decentralised governance system.

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