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by Kusal Perera

"A process of Good Governance cannot take off or consolidate itself without adequate space for strong community participation in decision- making and the ability to monitor implementation of such decisions by the community".

(Leo Fonseka UN Specialist on Urban Development - Sessions on Media and Good Urban Governance/Kathmandu - July 17-19, 2002).

Discussions on good governance are not lacking in our country and issue that raise such discussions are also not lacking here. Mismanagement apart, instances of rampant corruption right at the top of governance have pushed the topic of good governance to the fore, with urgent importance.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe accepts and is committing himself to transparent rule under his stewardship, promising his UNF Government would be accountable to the citizens in all its work. This commitment and the pressure from international aid and donor agencies have pushed Government agencies to go on record with an assurance, their work would be transparent and would be accountable to the community in all government activities.

The Sri Lanka Report for the August 2002, "Would Summit on Sustainable Development" goes an extra length to substantiate this promise for good governance by reiterating it under many topics. This commitment for good governance needs to be translated into practice. It is now too boring to go on putting this on Government reports and handouts. So where do we begin? If not at the national level, then at local government (LG) level.

There is meanwhile another discussion on Good "Urban" Governance, focusing on municipal rule, now gathering momentum in different fora, both nationally and internationally. The adjective "urban" provides for a less complicated space for the community to step in for participation in their own local areas. And of late UN agencies that assist in urban development projects through LG authorities insist on transparency, accountability and community participation in those projects when implementing. So are other international agencies that now come in for urban sector development.

It is an accepted fact by now at the level of local government that for good governance, community participation is an imperative factor. Community participation is sought through NGO inclusion by these international agencies. NGOs are expected to play the role of the "community" when local government bodies like municipalities plan and implement projects. Unfortunately, at least in Sri Lanka, the NGOs are far from meeting that challenge of "playing the community".

The NGOs have their own defects and drawbacks. They are very much introvert in their attitudes and undemocratic in their organisational structures to have the capacity to bring the community to centre stage. And this leaves much to be desired in changing the pattern of rule in municipalities.

While this was the general, accepted scenario, there had been a very rare, perhaps an accident in local government rule, when the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) attempted to bring the community into play in implementing projects that were assisted by UN agencies like the UNICEF in 1979. For a brief period of about 3 years, the CMC advocated and promoted and formation of people based Community Development Committees (CDC) in their wards to work along with the municipal member.

But change of leadership in an era when society was speeding into politicisation, killed this healthy trend in municipal rule.

Then from 2000 November, another trend emerged with the Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia Municipal Council (DMMC) agreeing to implement a project brought in by the National Forum of People's Organisations (NFPO) assisted by the Institute of Governance (IOG) based in Ottawa, Canada that calls for regular "stakeholder" meetings with the DMMC to oversee the planning and implementation of the project. Probably there are other instances in other municipalities too. Yet, if one leaves out these two far apart experiences, not much or rather nothing worthy of note has taken place in changing the attitudes of the LG politicians and the LG administrators. Far worse is the absence of change in the attitudes of the affected "ratepayer" of LG authorities.

It is this absence of change in the mindsets of "stakeholders" that the IOG was focusing on, when they designed their model for good urban governance. The IOG conceptualised the presence of the "media" in their projects as a stakeholder, arguing that the local media as part of the civil society has a duty by themselves in partaking in observing the process of governance. And this developed into another area of discussion as to what role the media should play within these "people's forums" sitting through meetings with municipal councillors, NGO representatives and a few community members for an isolated slum dwelling that deliberate on construction of drains and culverts, public toilets and water taps.

This new discussion helped in conceptualising a model that first agreed the media would have no interest whatsoever, if the projects are limited to microscopic size within a municipal area.

Therefore it was argued the process of governance should be watched from a different height. From that of the whole municipality. For which, it was again said, the concept of Good Urban Governance needs to have a broadbased structure to house the community as a stakeholder of the whole process of governance.

This was the experience of the micro-community who participated in the IOG assisted, NFPO project with the DMMC. And the new model suggested the forming of people's committees in all 27 wards that would be federated into a few zones to bring community participation into a "People's Forum" that would include a few senior citizens from among the ratepayers to cover different professions, senior officers from the police, the clergy, the media and representatives from other ongoing development projects in the municipal area.

This "People's Forum" was proposed to sit with the Municipal Council regularly to deliberate on issues of importance and to bring in the component of community participation in decision-making and implementation, the hallmark of Good Urban Governance. The flaw here is its acceptability. Its legal binding to deliberate with the Council.

Therefore it was suggested the Municipal Council should ratify the establishment of such a forum in its council meeting. This required the consensus of all municipal councillors.

Thus the proposal of a "People's Forum" for Good Urban Governance in Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia was discussed among the municipal councillors a few weeks ago co-chaired by the Mayor, Dhanasiri Amaratunge and the Leader of the Opposition, Kesaralal Gunasekera. This discussion that had a few representatives from the civil society, was not without dissenting voice from the elected municipal councillors. The municipal councillors, all of whom are elected representatives, probably felt their right to represent the people needs no other forum. Why should there be another representation when there are representatives elected by these very same people in the municipality, was the thinking.

What was amiss here is not only how credible these elected bodies are in transparent and accountable governance, but also how professional they are in deciding on an overall development plan in their own area. And how "impartially" representative they are in disbursing the resources that would be available for all ratepayers. These lapses are often due to a serious omission of a continuous dialogue between the elected representative and his polity, after an election and for over 5 years till another election comes in sight.

Therefore a continuous dialogue with a broader representation brought in from grass roots level, helps in keeping a healthy tab on all aspects of urban governance, that would also provide councillors to politically live without alienation. And it provides a regular platform for a bottom - up planning process that would always prioritise community needs. But, this would not be accepted by the local politicians without debate, for it demands a change in attitudes, in political culture that has moulded not only the politician but also the ratepayer. Herein lies the importance of the media. To play a catalyst in the change.

(the writer is a freelance journalist)

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