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VOLUME 44
NUMBER 2
DECEMBER 2020
The Local Government System in
Bangladesh: An Anatomy of
Perspectives & Practices
Shah Md. Azimul Ehsan
Abstract
The local government of Bangladesh shows all the characters of a colonial one since our country
was under the British Raj for 190 years and under Pakistan rule for around 24 years. During
the British and Pakistani periods, even after independence, several structural changes were made
to the local government bodies under different regimes. Despite all those efforts, Bangladesh has
been known to be among the most centralized countries in the world. Over the past decade,
however, major efforts have been undertaken to strengthen the role and capacity of local govern-
ment institutions (LGIs). Currently, LGIs in Bangladesh have separate systems for rural and
urban areas which are guided by its own operational framework. However, the way the legisla-
tions are enacted and executed, each tier and unit has become a watertight compartment. The
interdependence and inter-organizational relationships are generally ignored. All these have
hampered the comprehensive growth of local government. Moreover, despite the recent legal
empowerment of LGIs, the bulk of public services continue to be managed directly by central line
ministries and their local administrative offices without systematic involvement of the elected local
government institutions. Hence, a conflicting scenario is created between the elected decentralized
LGIs with the administrative decentralized bodies which affect the quality of public service
delivery. This paper attempts to analyze the local government system in Bangladesh, with the
intent to identify whether the current local government system is constraining the performance of
local governments.
Keywords: Local government institutions, decentralization, devolution, de concentration, local
administration, local governance
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1. Introduction
Bangladesh inherited the colonial structure of local government since the country
was under the British Raj and Pakistan for 190 years and around 24 years respec-
tively (Panday, 2011). The tendency to experiment with local government (LG)
system in Bangladesh is not new (Khan, 2011). Regarding such experiments with
decentralized local governance in context to Bangladesh, Khan (2016) comment-
ed that, ‘even to a cursory observer, the experimentations with the history of
decentralized local governance in Bangladesh would come out to be both cheq-
uered and intriguing’. The country, on one hand, has a rich legacy of establishing
and promoting local government institutions; while on the other hand, the actual
role and contribution of these institutions to augment citizens’ participation and
consolidate democratic practices have often been below par. Overwhelming
central interference, abuse and manipulation by authoritarian regimes to perpet-
uate their power have been the predominant reasons of Bangladesh’s limited
success in decentralization (Rahman 1994, Sarker 1990, Siddiquee 1997) (Cited
in Khan, 2016). In other words, despite several efforts to promote decentralized
local governance, Bangladesh has been known to be among the most centralized
countries in the world.
However, over the past decade, major efforts have been undertaken in Bangla-
desh to strengthen the role and capacity of local government institutions (LGIs).
Various policy documents including Five-year plans (6th and 7th) envision a
stronger, effective, participative and accountable local government system as the
basis of consolidation of decentralization. Policy regimes and plan documents
over and over again emphasized the need for making LGIs participative, ac-
countable, inclusive, gender-sensitive and responsive to the needs in general and
the disadvantaged groups, in particular (Aminuzzaman et al, 2015). As a matter
of fact, Union Parishads (UPs), the lowest local government tier, have been trans-
formed from traditional and largely unresponsive local government institutions to
increasingly participatory and proactive local government institutions (Bhuiyan,
2014). Also, Upazila Parishad (sub-districits) have been re-established as a local
government body with its own elected leadership. Moreover, various interven-
tions have promoted the role of pouroshavas and City Corporations in an increas-
ingly urbanized country (Bhuian, 2014). Furthermore, legal provisions for LGIs to
play a stronger role have clarified and expanded. In simpler terms, currently,
there are separate systems for rural and urban areas of LGIs which are guided by
its own separate and operational framework. Meanwhile, fiscal transfers to local
governments have significantly grown in size. Ahmed et al (2014) and Aminuz-
zaman (2013) noted that, due to these recent initiatives along with the project
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South Asian Journal of Policy and Governance
3
based local development activities patronized by the development partners, LGIs
are increasingly looking to play a meaningful role, both as platforms for deepen-
ing local democracy as well as mechanisms for the improved localized services.
Despite such claims, there is plethora of literatures, for instance Panday (2011);
Waheed and Saminah (2012); Ahmed (2016); Haque, Islam & Sharmin, (2011),
Osman (2011); WahedUzzaman and Mphande (2014); WahedUzzaman and
Alam (2015); Osman(2015); Uddin (2015); WahedUzzaman, Saber and Hamid
(2018), Ehsan & Kamruzzaman (2019) where a pessimistic overtone have been
echoed by the scholars regarding the fact that local governance of Bangladesh is
still suffering greatly from limited manpower and resources, lack of fiscal autono-
my, ineffective monitoring, lack of accountability and transparency, elite power
capture, political manipulation and non-cooperation from Upazila based bureau-
cracy. In this milieu, with such contrasting views from both the group of scholars,
this paper seeks to understand whether current local government system in Bang-
ladesh is constraining the performance of LGIs. More specifically, this study
argues that although major initiatives have been taken in the recent times by the
government, the LGIs have still not grown as a composite whole to play a mean-
ingful role ( although with few exceptions). Having set the scene in the introducto-
ry part, the next section of the paper provides a brief conceptualization of local
governance and decentralization, followed by synopsis of local government system
which is currently operational in Bangladesh. The following section unravels the
inconsistencies and pitfalls within the present local government system. The paper
concludes analyzing critically the factors which have given rise to such anomalies.
1.1 Objective of study
The specific objective of this study is to focus on the local government structure of
Bangladesh. By local government structure, it is meant the different set ups (both
local self- government consisting of urban and rural local government bodies as
well as local administration). In doing so, the study digs into the rules and regula-
tions of these local government bodies, i.e. the existing local governments Acts of
UPs, UZPs, Zila Parishads, Pourahsvas and City corporations whether they
constrain the powers and the functions of the local governments. In other words,
the study looks broadly at the institutional and legal frameworks within which
local governments operate in Bangladesh.
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2. Methodology of study
This study is qualitative in nature, which has been conducted on the basis of
collecting data from various secondary sources using content analysis method.
Kothari (2004) notes that data extracted from secondary sources have been
already collected and analyzed by someone and readily available for use. Such
data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data (Abdullah,
2017). A substantial amount of literature exists on local governance and decen-
tralization in Bangladesh. So, the various secondary sources of data which this
study has used have been extracted by thorough review of several books, journal
articles published in both reputed national and international journals, newspaper
articles, recent local government Acts, policy documents and reports published by
concerned ministry and development partners, web-documents and other existing
literature on this relevant topic. Reviewing such a good number of literature has
helped the author to get in-depth understanding about the overall local govern-
ment system in Bangladesh. This has further helped the author to recognize the
current trends, critically analyze the present status of local governance in Bangla-
desh which has again facilitated in identifying what is working, what is not work-
ing, what are the underlying causes behind such dysfunctions etc. All these have
ultimately aided to craft the paper into an argumentative one.
3. Local government and decentralization: Concept and
connotations
3.1 Local government
The concept of local government has been indispensable in lessening the burden of
the central government in service delivery, in the era of modern statehood (Islam,
2018). In most South Asian countries, local government is widely known as local
self-government (Siddique, 1994; Panday, 2005). Perhaps the most comprehensive
and acceptable definition of local self-government has been given by UN (1962). It
conceptualized local self-government as an elected or locally selected political sub-
division of a nation or state, constituted by law, having substantial control over local
affairs along with the power to impose taxes, or to exact labor for prescribed pur-
poses (Cited in Panday, 2011). One of the common mistakes which is done while
discussing local governments is equating it with local administration although there
is stark difference between these two. Local administration simply denotes execu-
tion of government decisions not only by the LGIs, but also by national/ provincial
government units located at the local level (Panday, 2011).
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3.2 Decentralization
Local government is closely related to decentralization which denotes the transfer
of significant power, including law making and revenue generation authorities, to
the locally elected bodies and sub-national units (Conyers 1983). Regarding the
emergence of decentralization, Wunch & Olowo (2000) expounded that after
suffering from the consequences of the centralized planning system, academics,
planners, and reformers felt the urgency that power should be decentralized in
the local areas in order to get rid of the central government domination, which
would ultimately provide ample opportunities for participation in democratic
governance. As the local government units are located nearer to people, they are
in a better position to identify the specific needs of the people, and to offer them
the required services within the shortest possible time and in a cost-effective way.
Popularly, this has been referred to as “local rationality” (Rondinelli, 1989).
Various scholars have defined decentralization from various contexts and dimen-
sions. However, there is a consensus about that the fact that Rondenelli (1981)
has defined decentralization in a holistic way as ‘ a transfer of authority to plan,
make decision and manage functions from national level to any individual organi-
zation or agency at the sub-national level’. Hence, decentralization is related to
the transfer of power and authority to the local levels of government.
Different countries have adopted different types of decentralization which include
political, administrative and fiscal decentralization1. Rondinelli (1986) considered
three different types of administrative decentralization, notable (i) de concentra-
tion and (iii) delegation and (iii) devolution. He noted that these different forms of
decentralization have different degrees of power, authority and autonomy associ-
ated with them. Deconcentration (which is often considered to be the weakest
form of decentralization) redistributes the decision-making authority, and finan-
cial and management responsibilities among different levels of central govern-
ment. To put it simply, it is a mere shift of responsibilities from central govern-
ment officials in the capital to those working in regions, provinces or districts, or it
can create strong field administration or local administrative capacity under the
supervision of central government ministries (Siddique, 2005). As deconcentration
1 Making a detailed discussion about these various typologies of decentralization is beyond the
scope of this paper For detailed information about political and administrative decentralization, see
Hossain (2005) and Panday (2011)
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retains too much central control and direction, Turner and Hulme (1997) argued
that it should be regarded as a less desirable option.
Delegation is a more extensive form of decentralization through which central
governments transfer responsibility for decision-making and administration of
public functions to semi-autonomous organizations. These bodies are not entirely
controlled by the central government, but they are ultimately accountable to
them. In terms of decision making, these organizations usually have a great deal
of discretion (Siddiqui, 2005). While devolution usually transfers responsibilities
for services to municipalities that elect their own mayors and councils, raise their
own revenues, and have independent authority to make investment decisions. In
a system where power is devolved, local governments have clear and legally
recognized geographical boundaries over which they exercise authority, and
within which they perform public functions. According to Wibbels (2004), this
type of administrative decentralization underlies most political decentralization
(Cited in Panday, 2011). Therefore, it is desirable that countries practicing decen-
tralization have more elements of devolution than delegation and deconcentra-
tion. In other words, it will be ideal for countries to put more emphasis on devolu-
tion as it gives more discretion to the local government bodies for planning,
management, resource-raising and allocation, and other functions compared to
deconcentration and delegation. However, it is also important that countries
strike a proper balance among the various forms of decentralization which they
want to follow depending on the contextual factors. It is very likely that there will
be coexistence of different types of decentralized local government bodies in the
same country. Then it becomes important for the policy makers to create proper
channels of interface and a coherence among them so that they can complement
each other.
4. A synopsis of local government system in Bangladesh
Siddique (2005), Ahmed (2012), Panday (2011, Khan (2016), Ehsan and Kamruz-
zaman (2019) have well documented about the evolution of the local government
system in Bangladesh. By the historical context, it suffices to say that the system
of local government and local administration in Bangladesh is comprised of a
patchwork of local administrative institutions and local government institutions
that has been shaped and molded over the two centuries, retaining important
elements and influences from the governance structure during the colonial period,
the intermediate period resulting with the country’s independence, as well as from
the alternating eras of authoritarian and elected regimes. Overtime, five types of
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Local Government institutions have been codified by law, including Zilla Pari-
shads, Upazilla Parishads, Union Parishads, Pourashavas (municipalities) and
City Corporations. These five types of LGIs function alongside four sub-national
level of tiers of local administration of the central government, also referred to as
the field administration. The figure 1 below depicts the structural representation
about how the LGIs and local administration co-exists. The levels of the LGI’s as
shown below are not equivalents, as city coprporations are located in old districts,
where it is also a divisional head quarter, and a metropolitan area, likewise pour-
ashovas are also not equivalents of Union Parishad.
Figure 1: An overview of local government and local administration of
Bangladesh. Adopted from (Ahmed et al, 2014)
The figure 1 also clarifies the fact that there are two distinct form of decentralized
local government bodies, i.e. devolution and de concentration are coexisting here
simultaneously. In other words, field administration at division, district, upazila
and union level are examples of deconcentration who mainly operate with dele-
gated authority, whereas LGIs both at urban and rural level are attempts of
devolution. The various tiers of field administration are headed by appointed
officials (bureaucrats) from the government, i.e. division, district and upazila is
headed by divisional commissioner, district commissioner and Upazila Nirbahi
Officer (UNO). These local administrative units are responsible for delivery of
various public services which include health, education, agriculture, family plan-
ning. They are also responsible for undertaking various development works at the
local level and. Furthermore, they have the role in monitoring, reporting and
coordination of those development programs as per direction of the government.
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Rural local government
Rural Local government Institutions are comprised of Union parishads (UPs),
Upazilla Parishads (UZPs) and the Zilla parishad (ZPs). Tabular representation of
these RLGs in Bangladesh have been given below, which articulates their election
method, assigned duties, revenue authority and who heads those bodies; including
the laws by which they are currently operated.
Table 1: Rural local government in Bangladesh
Name
Union parishad
Upazila parishad
Zila parishad
Headed by
Elected Chairman
Elected Chairman
Elected
Chairman
Election
method
Direct election
Direct Election
Indirect election
Functional
observations
Participatory
planning and
implementation,
and small
investment and
service monitoring
powers, but limited
staffing capacity.
Devolutionary
integrated planning
and thus
implementation,
small investment
and service
monitoring powers
Planning,
coordination
and oversight
Revenue
authority
Limited revenue
authority and
scope, but does not
have sub-national
borrowing
authority.
Widespread revenue
authority and scope,
but does not have
sub-national
borrowing authority
Yes but does not
have the sub-
national
borrowing
authority.
Acts in
operation
The Local
Government
(Union Parishad)
Act, 2009
The Local
Government
(Upazilla Parishad)
Act, 2011
The Local
Government
(Zilla parishad)
Act, 2000
Urban local government
Urban Local government in Bangladesh -namely, City Corporations and Pour-
ashavas (municipalities) have a larger scope of functional responsibilities than the
RLGs. A brief account ULG has been given in the table 02 which explicitly
demonstrates by whom those bodies are headed, mode of election method,
whether these bodies have the revenue authority or not and the current legal
enactments by which these ULGs are being operated.
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Table 2: Urban Local Government Structure in Bangladesh
Name
Pourashava
(Municipality)
City corporation
Headed by
Elected mayor
Elected mayor
Election method
Direct election
Direct election
Revenue authority
Yes
No
Acts in operation
The local government
(Municipality), 2009
The local govern-
ment (City corpora-
tion), 2009
Source: Developed by the author
5. State of local governance in Bangladesh: Issues and challenges
From the above discussion, it seems that Bangladesh is at least structurally a
decentralized country, having well defined local government tiers for rural and
urban areas. As figure 1 shows, both elements of decentralization, i.e. deconcen-
tration and devolution coexist here for promoting local governance. A layman
might reach to a fallacious conclusion seeing such a structural representation and
de jure (legal) basis of decentralization that public service delivery is highly effi-
cient in the country and there prevails good local governance. However, the
ground reality is something different. Bhuiyan (2014) argues that local govern-
ments were never regarded as ‘self-governments’ of small areas, rather they were
treated as an agent or client of central/national government. The situation is not
better now albeit Bangladesh will celebrate its 50 years of independence next
year. Moreover, because of their unplanned and inconsistent development, there
are a lot of inconsistency in the structure, functions and jurisdiction of different
LGIs which create a complex relationship between different local government
bodies, along with parallel local government administration, which in turn results
in an inefficient system of local governance. Some of the key issues of present
local government system in Bangladesh which make the local governance chal-
lenging have been discussed here.
5.1 Excessive deconcentration and delegation with limited devolution
Bangladesh inherited and continued with a system in which the central govern-
ment holds a dominating position. Despite major reforms, still the main principle
of local governance is being done in the spirit of deconcentration and delegation
with limited scope of devolution. The central government retains control over
LGIs through various means, depriving them adequate power for making deci-
sions even on local issues. In spite of delegation of power to act on certain matters
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LGIs are restrained through procedures and requirements for approval that make
them accountable to local field offices of the central government. For example,
the budget of the Union Parishad requires final approval from the UNO before
implementation (Huque and Panday, 2018). Such authoritative relationship
pattern created scope for government officials, including the Deputy Commis-
sioner, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), and heads of district and sub-district
administrative units to control the LGIs. In addition, the government uses legal
provisions and frequently issues circulars to control their activities, conduct in-
quiries, and even suspend their operation (Huque and Panday, 2018). For in-
stance, (section 13 of City Corporation Act, section 32 of Pourashava Act, section
10 of ZP Act, section 13 of UZP Act and section 34 of UP Act) empowers the
government to remove the Chairman/Mayor of any LGI or any of its members
from his/her office on certain grounds including misconduct, corruption, will-full
maladministration or misuse of powers. Moreover, Chairmen (except of ZP) and
Mayors may also be suspended by the government through a written order on
certain grounds. There is nothing irrational in incorporation of such clauses of
removal and suspension of elected representatives of LGIs on the above men-
tioned grounds as that will help to keep them abide by rules regulations. In other
words, such provisions will also demotivate elected representatives to refrain from
such unlawful activities as the consequences will be severe. Such check and bal-
ance is always commendable for ensuring good governance. However, Bhuian
(2014) rightly pointed out that this power is most likely to be abused by the gov-
ernment if it fails to ensure that the Mayor or Chairman does not adhere to its
instructions or policies. Mere beginning of a criminal proceeding does not neces-
sarily mean that the accused person is guilty, although government has been
empowered to suspend the Chairman/Mayor on that ground. Again, government
may anytime cause to file a case before the criminal court against any Chairman
or Mayor to facilitate his/her suspension for an unknown period of time.
5.2 MP’s role in local governance: Interference in the name of cooperation
A new phenomenon in the system of local government in Bangladesh is the
advisory role of the MPs on LGIs. Article 25 of the Upazila Parishad Act 2009
keeps the provision for MP's role in the UZP as “Adviser”. According to this
article, the UZP will have to take or accept the advice of the MP concerned, who
is neither elected to the UZP nor has any voting right in it. Again, article 42 (3) of
the Upazila Parishad Act 2009 allows the UZP to plan local development in
consultation with the local MP. (Islam, 2018). As adviser, MPs should monitor
different activities of the local government bodies from a distance, just to ensure
that they follow the parliament-adopted policies. Regarding such advisory role of
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MPs, the Shawkat Ali Commission argued that MPs should not have any role at
all in running a local government body because this sort of political control ulti-
mately led to curtailment of LGIs autonomy and often makes them subordinate
to the party in power (Bhuian, 2014). Arguing on the same vein, Khan (2016) and
Islam (2018) commented that “advice” of MPs often turns into an “executive
order”, overriding and controlling development plans and actions by the elected
representatives at the Upazila Parishad. There have been many instances where
the MP nominates his/her party loyalists in the selection committees and benefi-
ciary lists of the social safety net programme which is done to ensure that the
beneficiaries of Food for Work, Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), test relief, old-
age allowance and other programmes come from the followers of the political
party that the MP belongs to. Again, one of the most important apparatus to
make the Upazila Parishad accountable for its actions is through the committees.
However, MPs playing the role of advisor could nominate a representative to
these committees ensuring his/her representation in the discussion, decision and
development planning. As a result, those representatives of MP will naturally
always try to impose the likings of MP in the decision-making process which
might not accommodate the needs of the people of that locality. Thus, the MP's
non-cooperation and undue influence bars the local government system from
turning into an effective one (Islam, 2018).
5.3 Functional assignment of LGIs and line agencies: Complementing or
conflicting in nature?
As mentioned earlier, each LGIs now have separate Acts which clearly stipulate
the duties and functions of different tiers. However, each tier and unit has become
a watertight compartment because of the way the legislations have been enacted
and executed, the interdependence and inter-organizational relationships are
generally ignored (Bhuian, 2014). Again, there are a lot of similarities in those
responsibilities and activities. For instance, all UZPs are required to formulate a
five-year plan and then need to divide such plan into annual development plans.
The same provision is applicable for all other LGIs including UPs, Paurashavas,
and City Corporations. Now, if UPs and Pourashavas prepare their five year
plans, it is not clear as to what extent UZP can formulate a plan with the ex-
officio representatives from UPs and Pourashavas. This provision for UZP ap-
pears to be conflicting with other two units. Similarly, both the Pourashava and
UZP have the mandate to maintain and improve the public health and educa-
tion. Even, UPs also have similar mandates. Therefore, there is confusion and
ambiguity in terms of jurisdiction, power and roles and responsibilities of different
LGIs. This issue gets further complicated when these different types of LGIs share
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the same geographical area with almost similar mandates and responsibilities such
as Zila Parishads, Upazila Parishads and Pourashavas/City Corporation (Bhuian,
2014)
Amidst such confusion in terms of functional jurisdiction and lack of coherence in
assignment of such responsibilities, LGIs further face another challenge. Imple-
mentation of their assigned responsibilities and development functions in health,
education and social welfare require substantial funding and functionaries which
are laying with the respective line agencies of the national government at all the
corresponding levels, i.e. union parishad, upazila parishad and districts. To be
more specific, the responsibilities of health, family planning, education, agricul-
ture, fisheries, livestock, physical infrastructure that are within the jurisdiction of
LGIs are administered by units of the central government (Ahmed, 2012). This
overlap affects the ability of LGIs in implementing their assigned roles effectively
(Huque and Panday, 2018).Furthermore, the relationship between elected repre-
sentatives and field level officials of the central government are not clearly defined
that will facilitate fruitful coordination. Consequently, local institutions fail to
exercise power over regulatory administration, and cannot function effectively
(Panday, 2011)
5.4 Inadequate resource mobilization and high central dependency
All the LGIs in addition to the national government’s budgetary allocation mobi-
lize their own resources too. LGIs have been authorized to levy taxes, rates, tolls
and fees on certain items fixed by the laws. However, it so happens that the
amount of taxable items is so low that it becomes insufficient to meet the day to
day expenses of the LGIs. For instance, UP receives 50 percent of the revenue
earned from the lease of rural markets, of which 25 percent and 10 percent is
taken by central government and UZP respectively, which leaves UP with only 15
percent of the market share for its maintenance. (Panday, 2011). Aminuzzaman
(2011) also made similar observation that the income earned from taxes, rates,
tolls, fees and other sources levied by UP does not correspond to the functions
assigned to it. Again, the sources of income may overlap, in case the UZP and the
Pourashava share the same geographical area. Furthermore, it appears that the
sources of income for both urban and rural tiers of LGIs, such as Pourashava and
UPs, are almost the same in many cases, except that they vary in terms of number
and jurisdictions (Aminuzzaman, 2011). In the midst of such limited source of
taxable items and overlapping of income sources, limited efforts towards local
resource mobilization make the situation further deplorable. Some of the signifi-
cant reasons as noted by Panday (2011) and Khan (2016) include the reluctance
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on the part of local government political leaders to enforce taxation measures for
fear of losing popularity amongst voters which might affect their chances of being
re-elected, low technical capacity, the temptation of ‘low hanging’ central funds,
and inadequate legal and executive backstopping support.
Consequently, LGIs have to depend on central resources even for maintaining
basic daily activities. The central funding typically comes in the form of ‘block
grants’ and other project aids. These resources remain a major avenue for central
manipulation and interference (Khan, 2016). More interestingly, there is no clear
budgetary formula for allocation of resources for LGIs. The LGIs receive devel-
opment and revenue grants from central exchequer, which is nominal, compared
to the public expenditure incurred at the same level through separate government
agencies. Sometimes lobbying, personal connection, and a network of irregular
means play a vital role in getting an enhanced amount of grant and different
project support (Ahmed, 2012). Thus, government exercises a considerable
degree of control over these institutions by increasing or decreasing their quan-
tum or by making their release subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions.
These are very important and effective weapons since a delay in the release of or
a cut in, certain grants-in-aid would cause hardships to these institutions (Sid-
dique, 2005; cited in Bhuian, 2014).
5.5 Lack of adequate staffing in LGIs
Another factor that is affecting the performance of the LGIs is the inadequate
number of persons available to them. Although the Upazila Parishad (Amend-
ment) Act, 2011 and the Union Parishad Act, 2009 provided for transfer of 17
departments to the sub-district and 13 offices at the union level, but these chang-
es have not yet been implemented (Panday and Islam, 2016). The deficit in
personnel affects performance of these LGIs to a great extent. Again, Khan (2016)
argued that the technical capacity of LGIs especially at the Union level is relative-
ly low. Most local government staff have limited or no capacity to perform the
suggested technical roles stipulated in the relevant laws and ordinances. Besides,
human resources and logistics are typically at the minimal level rendering these
institutions ineffective, especially to play the envisioned role of a community
focused ‘development agent’.
5.6 Wardshava, open budget meeting and standing committees: Are
they facilitating local participation?
In order to facilitate citizens’ participation in the governing process, there are
several platforms, such as the Ward Shava (WS), Open Budget Meeting (OBM)
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and Standing committees (SC). However, the state of active participation by
citizens in these avenues is far from satisfactory (Huque and Panday, 2018). WS is
not functioning the way it was perceived and envisioned in the Act. Several
problems such as professional obligation, lack of personal interest, lack of aware-
ness, political reasons and inappropriate meeting times discourage people’s pres-
ence at the WS (Chowdhury, 2018). OBM has its own limitations. Not all UPs are
equally capable of holding or sustaining such practices in a consistent manner.
Moreover, empirical evidences suggest that very few eligible people participate in
open budget meetings. Furthermore, getting people to attend open budget meet-
ings remains a difficult proposition, for reasons that plague participation in any
public setting like general apathy, the lack of awareness of the importance of open
budget meeting, and the perception of partisanship within the participatory
budgeting process etc. (Aminuzzman et al 2015). As a matter of fact, most of the
UPs hold WS and OBM for the sake of compliance only with limited spontaneous
participation. Such absence of citizens in the governing process has created the
risk of neglecting the poor and marginalized sections of the society (Panday and
Rabbani, 2011).
Like WS and OBS, SCs are also not functioning effectively because most of the
members are neither aware about the standing committees nor attend in the
committee’s meetings. There is also some overlapping of responsibilities in the
committees (Ahmed at al 2016). Regarding the limited success of SCs, Aminuz-
zaman (2011) rightly commented on the vital issue of irrational number of SCs for
various LGIs. He argued that, ‘section 45 of the Act authorizes the UP to have 13
Standing Committees. In a 13 member Council, formation of 13 Standing Com-
mittees appears to be unrealistic. Similarly, City Corporation Act has also provid-
ed for 14 Standing Committees (section 50) and Upazila Parishad Act has provid-
ed for 17 standing committees (section 29). Surprisingly, with the mandate of
highest number of responsibilities/activities, Paurashava Act has provided for
only five standing committees (section 55). Experiences reveal that too many
standing committees have been the prime cause for non-functioning of such
executive bodies and making those mere symbolic’ (Cited in Bhuian, 2014).
5.7 Absence of coherent legal framework
Separate frameworks of laws for various LGIs is not facilitating local governance
in Bangladesh rather it is resulting in an overly complex governing structure,
functional overlap, unclear central local and local-local interactions, and confron-
tational relationship with the local bureaucrats who seek to exercise domination
over the elected bodies (Rahman and Ahmed, 2015, 16). This makes the situation
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South Asian Journal of Policy and Governance
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immensely complex in which local institution leaders are unable to comprehend
their respective roles and responsibilities. The main problem is not the existence
of different levels of government and non-existence of distinction between urban
and rural government. The problem arises because there is no coherent legal
framework for guiding the functional responsibilities of different local institutions
for ensuring that each tier of government performs their own functions effectively
(Ahmed, et al, 2015; Cited in Huque and Panday, 2018)).
6. Concluding remarks
It is evident from the discussion made so far that the current local government
system in Bangladesh is in no way facilitating the pathways for effective local
governance of LGIs rather its functioning is inhibited for various underlying
causes. The situation is not like that LGIs in Bangladesh were operating with
more autonomy and discretion earlier and the situation has turned grey now. A
number of retrospective studies based on the political economy of the local gov-
ernance in Bangladesh, for instance- Khan (2001), Huq (2014), Khan (2016),
Ehsan and Kamruzzaman (2019) testify the fact that decentralization has never
taken roots in Bangladesh In fact, decentralization policies in Bangladesh have
served, more than anything else, to create a sub-national political support base for
the successive ruling regimes. In other words, local government and decentraliza-
tion policies have mainly served to perpetuate power and authority of the central
ruling political regimes (Huq, 2014; Khan, 2016).
Again, these initiatives have suffered broadly due to lack of genuine political
commitment to devolution and the culture of disowning the reforms initiated by
previous government. More specifically, with the regime shifts, local government
policies, vision and practices are drastically changed, stalled, or scrapped alto-
gether. One of the common practices has been to begin local government reform
measures from the scratch with each regime shift (Khan, 2016). For example-
BNP government (1991-1996) constituted Huda Commission for unraveling the
reasons of mal governance at the grassroots in Bangladesh. The Commission
made subsequent recommendations for strengthening it. However, as Awami
League government (1996-2001) came to power by winning next national elec-
tion, they shelved the recommendations which were put forward by Huda Com-
mission. Rather, they formed new commission under the leadership of the then
State Minister Advocate Rahmat Ali with similar objectives. The cycle of discon-
tinuity of policy reforms continued when BNP and its alliance formed govern-
ment in 2001-2006, stalling the suggestions made by Rahmat Ali Commission
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c
(Ehsan and Kamruzzaman, 2020). The caretaker government from 2007-2008
also initiated some reforms related to local government and decentralization
which included establishment of a high powered, independent Local Government
Commission; promulgation of a series of laws (ordnances), notably a uniform law
for all City Corporations, new laws for Paurashavas and Unions, revision of the
Upazila Parishad Ordinance; and efforts towards coordination of ‘donor’ (inter-
national aid agencies’) assistance. Interestingly though, nearly all the reform
efforts were ditched by the Awami League government after coming to power in
2009. The Local Government Commission was dismantled, the five vital ordi-
nances were not ratified and thereby made null and void. The new government
instead amended the Upazila Act (1998) in 2009, paving the way for the party
MPs to exert disproportionate power at the local level. Besides, a series of Execu-
tive Orders were passed to exercise central discretionary power of decision mak-
ing in the domain of local government (Khan, 2016).
There is no way to distinctly analyze why decentralized local governance in
Bangladesh has had limited success. This is because most of the factors that have
been impeding its effective functioning emanate from and are deeply engrained in
the wider political economic fabric of the country. Therefore, neither peace-meal
efforts nor radical solutions would be adequate enough to heal the problem.
Although providing recommendation is beyond the scope of this study, the paper
however offers a modest suggestion to the policy makers to seriously ponder about
the current local governance issues and look for comprehensive strategies about
how to transform nearly 6000 weak, emaciated and feeble LGI units into effec-
tive, functional and accountable democratic institutions. As the nation celebrates
50 years of independence the following year, perhaps, time has come to say
goodbye to the colonial legacy which has haunted the local government system
since independence.
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