Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday vowed to transfer power to grassroots level by strengthening the local government system, Radio Pakistan reported.

Chairing a meeting in Islamabad on the local government system, the prime minister said, “Empowered people in a local government system can be the best form of the government.” He said that people should be allowed to make decisions on their own, which was only possible by ensuring a strong local government system in the country.

He said that the local government pattern implemented in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be replicated in other parts of the country. “People will be strengthened by empowering the local bodies,” the prime minister said.

The premier had already constituted a committee to recommend proposals for a new local government structure.

While presiding over a meeting at his office, the prime minister had said that new laws must be prepared so that they could be enforced in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan would be asked to enforce the new LG system under Article 140-A of the constitution.

The prime minister had been of the view that the transfer of power to the grassroots level and people’s empowerment was the main plank of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reforms agenda. PM Khan had said the past practice of centralisation of power had deprived the people of any meaningful say in government affairs.

Published in Daily Times, September 16^th 2018.