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Zila Parishads undermined by absence of elections

UNB, Dhaka
The appointment of unelected administrators to Zila Parishads, or district councils, has put the accountability and good governance of the local government body at stake, observed experts.
They said that withholding the election to the councils after the appointment of administrators 32 months ago also ran counter the constitutional mandate of the government.
It is illegal to keep unelected people in Zila Parishads, said local government expert Prof Tofail Ahmed. "It can be an interim arrangement. It can't continue for an indefinite period."
Prof Tofail also noted that there is no accountability as the administrators are not elected.
Zila Parishad, the first tier of local government institutions, came into being with the promulgation of an ordinance in 1988 during military ruler Gen HM Ershad's regime.
After his fall in a mass upsurge in 1990, the council turned nonfunctional as the successive governments did not take any initiative to make it effectively operational.
After a two-decade gap, the Awami League-led government on December 15, 2011 appointed administrators to 61 Zila Parishads.
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The then government had made it clear that the election to the councils would be held in six months. Although the AL-led grand alliance government retained power through the January 5 parliamentary polls, there has been no sign of election to these bodies.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters after a meeting with deputy commissioners in Dhaka in July, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam said the government had no plan to hold Zila Parishad polls anytime soon.
Replying to a question about the abolition of Zila Parishad, Ashraf said, "It deserves consideration. There's no use of having unnecessary local government units... this is not good for a democratic country... there's no use of so many local government institutions."
Secretary of Sushashoner Janney Nagorik (SHUJAN) Badiul Alam Majumdar said the government was running the councils with administrators in violation ofthe constitution.
Article 59 (1) of the charter says, "Local government in every administrative unit of the republic shall be entrusted to bodies, composed of persons elected in accordance with the law."
Majumdar said the government had also broken its own pledges by appointing unelected administrators as its 2008 election manifesto made commitment to strengthen local gov-
ernment for good governance.
He further said an unelected person could not deliver good governance because there was no accountability involved in the process of his or her appointment. But, in a democracy, none is beyond accountability, said Majumdar. "Election is a way of ensuring accountability.”
In addition, several district administrators interviewed by the news agency shared the problems they are facing in discharging their duties because of their status as unelected.
Hasina Dowla, the administrator of Dhaka Zila Parishad, said, "I've been facing problems in every step for being unelected. Had I been elected, I wouldn't have faced the troubles."
Echoing Dowla, Meherpur Zila Parishad administrator Miazan Ali said, "Our dignity could have been enhanced if we had been elected."
Local Government Division Secretary Monzur Hossain said, "There's no government decision or direction to hold the Zila Parishad election."
Asked for reaction to the allegation that people are not getting proper service from the unelected administrators, he said, "I don't think so. The administrators are not government officials. Though not elected, they have people's representation locally. "Meanwhile, in the annual review meeting on strengthening Zila Parishads recently, the administrators sought more authority to steer the local development activities.