Local Government of Bangladesh

Local Government of Bangladesh

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Since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the structure of the local government bodies has undergone different changes. Some changes have been occasionally made in terms of the nomenclature of tiers of local government. However, little has been done to establish these bodies as self-governing institutions. Therefore, the structure of the local government system has remained more or less the same, although there have been different initiatives to effect changes in the structure of the local government bodies. Immediately after independence, the Union Council was renamed as Union Panchayat, and an administrator was appointed. The Thana Council was called Thana Development Committee, while the District Council became the Zila Board or the District Board. In 1973, the name of Union Panchayat was reverted to Union Parishad. A more significant change was brought about through the Local Government Ordinance, 1976. This Ordinance provided for each tier of local government. To be specific, these were the Union Parishad for the union level, the Thana Parishad for the Thana level, and the Zila Parishad for the district level. This marked the first time that an ordinance was passed to bring all the local government institutions under a single legal framework. The Union Parishad included one elected chairman, nine elected members, two appointed women members, and two peasant representatives. The Thana Parishad included the Sub-Divisional Officer (who was also the ex-officio Chairman), the Circle Officer, and the Union Parishad Chairman. The Zila (District) Parishad included elected members, official members, and the female members whose number was determined by the central government. They served a five-year term of office. However, no elections were held, and government officials oversaw the Parishad (Siddique, 1994). In accordance with the Amendment to the Local Government Ordinance, the Swanirvar Gram Sarker (village self-government) was introduced at the village level in 1980. However, this was abolished by the Martial Law Order in July 1982 (Huque, 1988) Then, several local government acts were passed in 1982, 1983, 1988, and 1989.3 The Upazila Parishad Ordinance (1982) was particularly significant because it was supposed to help implement the Government’s decentralisation programme. In the Upazila System (as it came to be known), the (directly) elected chairman would have the principal authority in running the affairs of the Upazila system with a five-year tenure. The Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) served as his/her subordinate. This system lasted for nine years, and it seemed to be effective (Siddique, 1994). One may wonder why the system was considered effective. This is because there was a balance of power between the people’s representatives and government officials. The system of indirect participation of people in the decision-making process of the Upazila Parishad was present. This was made possible through their elected representatives. Moreover, the Chairman of the Upazila Parishad used to be elected on the basis of universal adult franchise. The general public was very much pleased, knowing that the administration was decentralised and thus accessible and transparent. However, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Government (1991-96), which came to power through a relatively fair election,4 abolished the Upazila system in 1991. The main purpose behind such a decision was to strengthen control of the Members of Parliament over local affairs in their respective constituencies. As long as the elected Upazila Chairman was present in the Upazila, the MPs found it difficult to establish their supremacy over local administration. During its fiveyear tenure, the Government could not provide an alternative democratic form of local government. When another relatively free and fair election in 19965 brought the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) to power (1996-2001), the new administration constituted a Local Government Commission. In May 1997, it came up with the Report on Strengthening Local Government Institutions. The Commission recommended a four-tier local government structure including Gram (Village) Parishad, Union Parishad, Thana/Upazila Parishad, and Zila (District) Parishad. The then AL Government started to implement recommendations forwarded by the commission in 1997. Nevertheless, this system did not last long because the BNP Government (2001-2006) introduced changes in the local government structure once more after coming to power in 2001. Specifically, it introduced Gram Sarker (GS) in place of Gran Parishad at the ward levels. Each Gram Sarker represented one to two villages having on average 3,000 inhabitants. The Union Parishad member, elected from the Ward, chaired the GS that consisted of other members, both males and females, elected in a general meeting of the Ward voters under the supervision of the “prescribed/directing authority.” However, after coming to power on 11 January 2007, the army backed the caretaker government (CTG) headed by dr. Fakruddin Ahmed, and it abolished Gram Sarker on 20 April 2008.6 It did so considering that the GS was created to serve the political purposes of the BNP. All these tiers are concerned with rural local governments in Bangladesh. In addition to the abolition of the Gram Sarker, the caretaker government made a noteworthy amendment to the Upazilla Parishad (UP) Act of 1998 through an ordinance. Basically, If you think you are benefited from this , please click at more than 2 adds.
the CTG amended the controversial provision of the Act of 1998 that made it mandatory for the UPs to follow the suggestions of the local MPs as advisors. Following the directive of the last CTG, the election to the UPs was held in January 2009 under the newly elected AL Government that came to power on 6 January 2009 after winning the election on 29 December 2008. Without ratifying the ordinance promulgated by the CTG, the Government put the UZP Bill (2009) before the Parliament where they added more autocratic features. And the UP Act 2009 was passed unanimously in the Parliament.7 One of the most important features of the UP Act 2009 is the provision of making it mandatory for the UPs to follow the suggestions of local MPs. Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 25 of the Act provide that the MPs shall be advisors of their respective UPs, and that their pieces of advice shall be treated as mandatory as indicated in the original UP Act of 1998. Moreover, a clause of the Act prohibits the UPs to communicate directly with the Government without informing the respective MPs. Clause 27 (kha) of the Act has made mandatory that the minutes of each session of the UP must be sent to their respective MPs within 14 working days. In that way, the Government has strengthened the control of the MPs over their respective UP, which is contrary to the basic principle of democracy, decentralisation, and good governance (The Local Government Act, 2009).