Last week I mentioned my proposal, some months back, to reintroduce Donoughmore style shared governance into our political system, in Pradeshiya Sabhas. I should perhaps note here the precise reforms I proposed, viz
There is a section in the Special Provisions act about Standing Committees but there is only vague reference to committees in the 1987 act, which is still I think the authority, with regard to Pradeshiya Sabhas. It has nothing about the way a Chairman is selected, but simply moves to
8. (1) The Chairman of a Pradeshiya Sabha shall be the chief executive officer of the Pradeshiya Sabha, and all executive acts and responsibilities which are by this Act or any other written law directed or empowered to be done or discharged by the Pradeshiya Sabha may, unless the contrary intention appears; from the context, be done or discharged by the Chairman.
I suggest amending 8 as follows:
8 Every local authority shall elect by Single Transferable Vote three of its members to chair committees for the following purposes
a) Social Services and Amenities
b) Protection
c) Finance
The person first elected shall be the Chairman of the Council and chair whichever he chooses of the first two Committees, allocating the other to the second person elected who shall be the Vice-Chairman of the Council. The third person elected will chair the Finance Committee.
Other members of the Council shall divide themselves into membership of the three committees on an equal basis, with the decision made by lot if agreement cannot otherwise be reached. The Finance Committee shall exercise oversight on the funds of the Council, and shall make recommendations for adoption as appropriate by the full Council.
The areas of responsibility allocated to Pradeshiya Sabhas in this act shall be allocated by decision of the Sabha at its first meeting to the two committees. In the event of disagreement, subjects shall be allocated by the Minister. The Finance Committee shall be in charge of revenue collection and disbursement, including of funds provided by Central Government, through a budget agreed on each year by the Sabha.
There were other changes I suggested, to bring greater coherence into the administration, but sadly these have found no place in the President’s pronouncement. This is not surprising, for I have found over the years that many good ideas I have proposed, in a context in which most politicians since the days of Ranasinghe Premadasa have no ideas at all, are perverted when implemented. It is only when I am given a free hand, as I was by Arjuna Aluvihare and Tara de Mel and Mahinda Rajapaksa (when I headed the Peace Secretariat) and Mahinda Samarasinghe, that I was able to achieve a great deal in a very short time span, and to entrench at least some of what I had envisaged.
One important change I think essential is to ensure better coordination with the District Secretariat, while for this purpose it is vital that Pradeshiya Sabhas and District Secretariats be coterminous – and indeed other units of Government Departments. At present there are wild inconsistencies, Police having one system and education another. This has been noted by intelligent officials, most notably recently by the Delimitation Commission of which my sister was a member, though she gave due credit for its very coherent report to the other members, and in particular its Chairman, Mr.Thavalingam.
In furtherance of such coherence, I wrote that;
For administration the act simply says that;
9. (1) There shall be appointed a fit and proper person to be or to act as the Secretary of the Pradeshiya Sabha. (2) The Secretary of a Pradeshiya Sabha shall be the chief administrative officer of the Pradeshiya Sabha and shall exercise, perform and discharge such powers, duties and functions as are conferred or imposed upon him by this Act or any rules made under this Act or by any other written law for the time being in force
It will be better to ensure coordination with the Divisional Secretariat, since otherwise there is much overlap and incoherence. So have this as 9.
9 The Chairs of the first two Committees will work through a Secretary of the Pradeshiya Sabha who shall be an officer nominated by the Divisional Secretary with the concurrence of the Pradeshiya Sabha. He shall be the Chief Administrative Officer of the Pradeshiya Sabha and shall work in coordination with the Divisional Secretary and his staff to fulfil his functions and to ensure that social services and amenities are provided in the areas laid down in this act and in particular that provision is made for care and protection of women and children and the vulnerable.
And then I went on to talk about measures to entrench consultation of the people. From the confusion in the President’s pronouncement, it would seem he has not seen what I suggested, for he seems to be floundering, with his usual stratagem in such a situation of compounding confusion by referring to all sorts of institutions with no idea as to how they can be rendered coherent. Hence his meandering discourse, that;
‘We should consider the people’s aspirations and should act accordingly. As the People are fed up with village level politics, we accept a new concept today. It is not the Government but former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya who recommended the Jana Sabha System.
To unite the public organisations in that village level and working in one committee is what Jana Sabha is all about. This system which existed before as Gramodaya Mandala is commendable. However, the Gramodaya Mandala had a connection with the Government whereas the Jana Sabha has not. We hope to implement this public assembly programme.
There should be proper coordination with the Pradeshiya Sabhas during the functioning of the Jana Sabhas (Public Councils). The Pradeshiya Sabhas will not be allowed to remove the Jana Sabha. We need to plan how we will work together. There are many questions about the Pradeshiya Sabha system. Many of these Pradeshiya Sabhas do not even make a profit. They are sustained on tax money. Municipal Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas that receive money utilize it to pay salaries. Hence, we have to think about this system.’
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