Pradeshiya Sabhas: Satisfying Local Needs?

Following last week’s local government elections, three new Pradeshiya Sabha’s will be installed to govern in the Kilinochchi district, after the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won comfortably in the area.

By Janith Aranze

Today we look at how much power or influence a Pradeshiya Sabha  has in influencing the central  government. The local government composition of Sri Lanka has historically been made up of Town Councils, Village Councils, Urban Councils and Municipal Councils.  Today local authorities are divided into 3 different groups: Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas, which have replaced the role of rural councils. In 1987 the Pradeshiya Sabha Act was introduced in an attempt to streamline local government politics in Sri Lanka.  The role of the Pradeshiya Sabhas as mandated under the Act is stipulated as: “the local authority within such an area and be charged with the regulation, control and administration of all matters relating to public health, public utility services and public thoroughfares and generally with the protection and promotion of the comfort, convenience and welfare of the people and all amenities within such area”. However, the new legislation failed to have a significant impact on local government affairs and the Act was duly amended in 1999. This time the amended Act gave Pradeshiya Sabha ministers the power to vary the limits of a Pradeshiya Sabha area, vary the number of members in a Pradeshiya Sabha, and the power to dissolve a Pradeshiya Sabha and replace it with a Municipal Council or an Urban Council. The Act has not been amended since 1999, though there have been numerous calls by political experts for the government to revise the structure of local government.
Pradeshiya Sabha’s are becoming more prominent in provinces all over the country. In the Western Province alone, which covers Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts there are 26 Pradeshiya Sabha’s, each varying in size from nine members to 23 members.  TNA MP, Suresh Premachandaran whose party will install three new Pradeshiya Sabha’s in Kilinochchi, has said that they can only be effective if the government allows them to be. “Legally they have the function of providing nutrition, health assistance and the implementation of railway lines but how effective they are depends on how effective the government is. So far we have had no dialogue with the government on the matter but we will do whatever we can within the law,” he said. Premachandaran is not alone in his fears that Pradeshiya Sabha decision making capacity can be easily stumped by the central government.
Course Advisor on a US State Department initiative with the University of Northern Illinois on good governance, Dr. M. Mendis, believes that grassroots decision making has been suppressed by the overwhelming influence of the central government in Sri Lanka.  Though he believes that Pradeshiya Sabhas are the foundation on which local governance is built, he argues that grassroot participatory development cannot be achieved as long as there is central government interference. “It was seen very clearly by the manner in which local government elections were held last week. The entire cabinet had been involved in campaigning in the Jaffna peninsula. Nothing mattered more than using central government infrastructure which was at their disposal to subvert and dilute the capacity of local people to think for themselves,” Mendis told The Sunday Leader. With Pradeshiya Sabha leaders effectively becoming agents of a powerful central government executive, local government politics has become a mirror reflection of what prevails at the centre. Mendis is in no doubt that the whole structure of local government in Sri Lanka is in need of radical reform. “Unless the local government political process is subjected to a total transformation through radical reforms and consensus among political parties in search of a new political order, ordinary people will continue to feel disaffected,” he explained.
Another problem attributed to Pradeshiya Sabhas is that it remains unclear as to who is responsible for a given area. Senior Vice-President of the United National Party (UNP), Lakshman Kiriella, has said that the old ward system was a far more rational system. “The problem is that government passed the Act to replace the ward system. However nobody knows which area they are responsible for. Under the old system there was a representative for each area. The UNP supported the ward system for this reason,” he said. Kiriella also critised the system for giving unbalanced power to the ruling party. “Even if the ruling party loses control of the Council, the Council can still be run even with a minority. Under earlier system if the budget is defeated the Council is dissolved,” he explained.
Though doubts have been raised as to the effectiveness of Pradeshiya Sabhas, Governor of the Western Province, Syed Alavi Mowlana, told The Sunday Leader, that the role of Pradeshiya Sabhas is to extend support to local areas and assist central government. “Pradeshiya Sabhas were brought in to minimise the work of the central government and to maintain and extend support to local administrations. They are guided by the local government ordinance and they have the power to supply water, the maintenance of roads and other duties related to infrastructure,” he explained. He added that in some ways Pradeshiya Sabha’s are a microcosm of central government. “It is like a mini-parliament, it is funded by central government and there are ministers who are elected by the people. The number of members varies according to the area,” he said. When looking at the budget summary for a Pradeshiya Sabha, a substantial amount of money goes towards health services, physical planning (roads, lands and buildings) and public utility and welfare services.
Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council, Prasanna Ranatunga believes that the Pradeshiya Sabha is an extremely useful tool for local government. “They are extremely effective at the grassroots level. They help people in agriculture and in schools as well. If the government allocates money to develop roads then they are responsible for it and they do the construction work,” Ranatunga explained. “Pradeshiya Sabhas are involved in everything:  from birth till death they deal with development work for the people,” he elaborated.
In order for good governance to prevail, grassroots participatory development is vital in order to answer the needs of the people. The number of Pradeshiya Sabhas has risen over the last few years and will continue to do so, but it remains to be seen if they are truly affecting the lives of local people in this country.