ISLAMABAD: Murtaza Solangi, the Federal Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting, and Parliamentary Affairs, stated on Tuesday that local government empowerment was the key to any nation that has reached the pinnacle of progress.
“From my personal experiences and comprehension, a democracy cannot exist without local government,” he declared during his two-day lecture at the Civic Hackathon’s “Problem Identification Conference.”
The minister expressed the opinion that one of the main issues in Pakistan’s political history has likely been the absence of a robust local government structure.
Calling the civic hackathon problem identification conference “a very interesting initiative,” he explained that its goal was to gather experts from the public, private, and civil society sectors to identify the nation’s most pressing civic issues in order to try and later develop a digital solution for them.
He stated that there was great potential in Pakistan to concentrate on creating creative indigenous solutions.
According to Solangi, the Pakistani government has realized the benefits and growing necessity of an evidence-based, participatory culture of decision-making. This culture should involve citizens and be need-based in order to guarantee efficient resource allocation.
“Each province shall by law establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative, and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local government,” he explained, referring to the addition of a subarticle known as 140-A to Article 140 during the 18th Amendment.
He explained that as a result, a number of political pundits and certain political parties have begun to emphasize that the provincial government’s local government regulations must be compliant with this particular clause of the Constitution.
According to Solangi, the fundamental issue with this crucial conference was governance, not merely digital literacy or identifying digital solutions. “We should know what our problems are, who our target audience is, and where we are heading with this digital exercise,” he continued, emphasizing that people are at the core of the entire exercise you are undertaking.
In the end, the minister said, he thought this method will help strengthen local governments, close the digital divide, and enhance the delivery of public services.
According to Solangi, local governments are the primary agents of change on a local level throughout the nation in addition to being the guardians of these digital solutions.
