Local Government in Asia and the Pacific:
A Comparative Study

Country paper: Sri Lanka

  Description of the Country
  Evolution of Local Government
  Local Government Categories
  Local Government Functions
  Local Government Finances
  Personnel Systems
  Central-Local Links
  Public Participation
  The Way Ahead
  References

Brief Description of the Country and its National/State Government Structure

Demography

Sri Lanka is an island situated close to the southeastern tip of the Indian subcontinent. It has a land area of 62,337 square kilometres. About 75 per cent of the land comprise broad lowland plains. The hilly area is in the centre and has been the feeder area for all rivers that flow to the Indian Ocean in a radial formation. The island receives rain from southwest and northeast monsoons and thunderstorms. The population is around 18.3 million with an annual population growth rate of 1.1 per cent. 57 per cent are concentrated in less than 25 per cent of the total land area. About 52 per cent live in the western, central and southern provinces.

Table 1. Population and Land Area per Province

Source: Sri Lanka Social Economic Data 1996 Statistics Department - Central Bank of Sri Lanka

The sectoral composition of population is 72.2 per cent rural, 21.5 per cent urban and 6.3 per cent estates. Although there are provincial and district capitals, the population in the national capital Colombo is far higher, dwarfing the other main cities. Hence, most of the urban problems are acute in Colombo and its suburbs but are emerging in other cities as well.

Table 2. Population in Secretary Divisions in Colombo District

Source: Department of Census and Statistics 1997

The growth of GDP in 1996 was 3.8 per cent, a lower percentage than the average growth rate of 5.5 per cent in the previous five years. The slowing down of the economy in 1996 was mainly due to the prolonged drought that adversely affected the agricultural production and electricity generation. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current market prices was estimated at RS 7,678,934 million. Per capita GDP rose to RS 41,984 (US$ 760) in 1996 from RS 36,869 (US$ 709) in 1995. This indicates that per capita GDP in Sri Lanka has reached the threshold of becoming a middle income developing country.

National governmental political structure

Sri Lanka gained Independence from the British in 1948 and has a democratic system of government. It is governed under a unitary system of Constitution and is a republic. The legislative power of the people rests with the Parliament whose members are elected on a political party basis, while the President who exercises the executive power is elected from the total electorate. Judicial power is exercised by the Parliament through Courts and other tribunals. Although for sovereignty purposes the Parliament is exercising judicial power, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and other Courts are free from outside interventions and maintain judicial independence. The Constitution has been promulgated thrice: in 1946, 1972 and 1978. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of 1987 has special relevance to power sharing between the central government and other levels of government within the system of republican governance. Under these amendments, subjects and functions in the purview of central and provincial governments have been identified in three scheduled lists: those of the central government, those of the provincial government and powers concurrent among central and provincial governments. The central government can set national policies on all subjects and functions and has the power to approve legislation on the concurrent list of subject areas that have been listed as provincial subjects in the scheduled list.

The provincial Governor of each province is responsible for the execution of policies and statutes made by the provincial council on devolved subjects, through the Board of Provincial Ministers. A provincial public service has been constituted for each province to support the executive. Except for the policies on the form, structure and constitution of local authorities and the national policy making related to local government, all other activities inclusive of operations, supervision of management, including the power to dissolve a local authority, come under the purview of a provincial council. The provincial Minister and the provincial Commissioner of Local Government are holders of these offices in the provincial council. At present, the political subdivisions are as follows: 8 provincial councils, 14 municipal councils, 37 urban councils and 258 Pradeshiya Sabhas (divisional/rural councils). Although the provincial council supervises local councils, a proposal is being made to bring the Colombo and Jayawardenapura-Kotte municipal councils under the central government, when the proposed new Constitution is promulgated. Under the British colonial rule and even at present the district administration plays a key role in the administration of the government, although its importance has been reduced due to the process of power sharing that commenced in 1987. There are currently 25 districts in Sri Lanka. Although members of Parliament are proportionally elected on a district there is no House or Assembly at the district level.

Out of the three electoral memberships, i.e. Parliament, provincial council and local authority, the first is the most powerful. Due to this situation there is competition to climb the political ladder. Therefore, the elected members at all levels consider the one below as a political competitor. This mindset leads members of Parliament to undertake development efforts in their electorate (i.e. district), often without consulting local authorities. Since they are considered superior, the members of Parliament have created institutional structures to make appropriate district organizations more powerful. The district and divisional coordinating committees are good examples.

The term of office for the President is six years, for Parliament and provincial councils it is five years each. For local authorities it is basically four years with the provision that the Minister could advance the term of office by 12 months or extend it by 12 months.

Evolution of Local Government, its Legal and Political Background

Local government has a long history, extending to the period of Sinhalese kings dating back to the fourth century. The oldest chronicle of Sri Lanka, Mahawansa (sixth century) mentions that local administration was carried out by the Nagara Guttika (city Mayor). Village level organizations called Gam Sabhas functioned under village leaders who enjoyed powers to administer local affairs and also perform judicial functions such as dealing with petty offences and reconciling disputes. What is understood as local government today is an expanded version of such responsibilities, operating under the democratic system of governance. However, certain functions such as judicial and agrarian services have been taken over by other authorities.

The Gam Sabhas were mainly agriculture oriented and were not directed by the centre. The British abolished the Gam Sabhas in 1818 withdrawing the self-government element in Sri Lankan villages. However, the British resurrected it in some way by the introduction of the Irrigation Ordinance in 1856, which entrusted the village communities to take certain actions related to irrigation and cultivation. The local government system in Sri Lanka was greatly influenced by the British during their colonial rule, particularly during the later part of the British rule (from 1865 to 1948). Important landmarks in local governance under the British can be summarily stated as follows:

• Establishment of municipal councils for the cities of Colombo and Kandy in 1865 and for Galle in 1866;
• Reconstitution of village committees by the Village Committees Ordinance in 1871;
• Establishment of sanitary boards for small towns in 1892;
• Establishment of urban councils in 1939; and
• Establishment of town councils in 1946.

The village committees functioned as legal entities served by village leaders on a voluntary basis. During the period 1940-1980 the term village committee was changed to village council. The powers and functions of villages councils were transferred to newly constituted district development councils in 1980. However, these new councils did not last long due to the inherent defects in the system that distanced the people from the administration, which necessitated the establishment of Pradeshiya Sabhas. The current organizational structure in local governance consists of three legal instruments: the Municipal Council Ordinance, the Urban Council Ordinance and the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act. The establishment of 257 Pradeshiya Sabhas in 1987 marked an extensive attempt of decentralization. In 1996, one more Pradeshiya Sabhas was added bringing the total number of Pradeshiya Sabhas to 258. Under the constitutional amendment it was expected that the provinces would prepare and pass Statutes to legally transfer the official activities of the local authorities. However, this has not taken place; except for a few statutes passed on the management of local authorities, other major activities are still governed under the above-mentioned laws. The observed functions of the local authorities focus more on environmental management and social services. Roads, thoroughfares' sanitation, health, water supply, solid waste management, sewerage and so on are the main functions of local authorities since their very inception. Other development activities such as education, agriculture, employment generation and poverty alleviation are not directly considered under these laws. This limited nature of functions has pushed the local authorities into a shell.

In the meantime some of these functions have been handed over to some other government owned boards, corporations or statutory authorities, making the local authorities dependant on those institutions to serve their electorates. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Common Amenities Board, the National Housing Development Authority and the Urban Development Authority are some of the organizations owned and managed by the government, but serving the electorate directly or through local authorities. Thus the Ceylon Electricity Board has taken over electricity supply, NWSD has developed and administered water supply schemes and UDA and NHD have developed housing schemes for the urban poor. At the same time it should be stated that studies on water supply have confirmed that the public prefers the National Water Supply and Drainage Board to manage water supplies rather than local authorities. Since these organizations belong to the central government, their policies, operational systems and management are undertaken with government interests in mind. Therefore, greater influence is wielded on such organizations by the elected representatives of Parliament than the Mayor or Chairperson of a local authority.

Unlike other developing or developed countries tiering of local authorities is not seen in Sri Lanka. However, the government undertakes upgrading of local authorities. Many examples can be shown to prove that such upgrading or re-demarcation has been done more on subjective than objective criteria. During the last 40 to 50 years, worldwide migration trends to cities have been observed in Sri Lanka as well. This trend has degraded the city environment and threatened economic efficiency, social equity and urban sustainability. These consequences are experienced in their worst form in Colombo and its suburbs, where settlements have degraded to a very low level. Since most of these settlements are illegally occupied, even local authorities and the previously mentioned stakeholder organizations have not been able to upgrade these urban low-income settlements.

Local Government Categories and Hierarchies

The central government decides on the structure of a local authority and demarcates it after a public hearing where the electorate and other parties and organizations are invited to participate. Local governments used to be divided into wards. Wards have been discontinued under the new proportional system. To create, reconstitute or upgrade a local authority, the Minister in charge of local government appoints a committee that is generally headed by an officer of the rank of a provincial Commissioner of Local Government or a divisional secretary. Two other members study the implications of establishing a local authority in a given area. In the case of reconstitution or upgrading of a local authority, the committee looks into the possibilities of carving out areas from other adjoining local authorities. The committee also recommends the number of elected members the local authority should have. On receipt of the committee's report, the Minister decides whether to reject or accept the recommendations of the committee. While normally committee recommendations have been accepted in total, there have been cases where these were changed due to political considerations, particularly when geographical areas had to be carved out from adjacent local authorities. However, even in such cases special attention is given to the organizational and financial sustainability of the proposed LA.

Local authority elections are held under the Local Authority Elections Ordinance. The district secretaries conduct elections in their capacity as Election Officers in the districts. Their duties are limited to the preparation and certification of electoral registers and the conduct of the poll. The Commissioner of Elections gazettes the list of candidates and gives all necessary directions to the Election Officers on the conduct of the poll. The Commission of Election also decides the number of seats each party will get based on the election results. One important feature in local authority elections is the regulation that 40 per cent of the candidates on the nomination list should be between 18 and 35 years of age, which gives an opportunity for youth representation in local authority administration. The latest local government election held in 1997 has shown that the electorate has accepted more representation from the youth.

The Chairmen or Mayors are nominated by respective political parties or independent groups, which does not seem to be very democratic. However, the democratic means of elections of heads of local authorities that was in vogue created problems of local administration. One of the main issues arising was the distant relationship maintained by the Chairmen/Mayors with the membership, affecting the functioning of the local authorities in a democratic manner. There have been cases where members and councilors revolted against such relationships with the heads of local authorities, causing embarrassment to political parties. On the other hand, some argue that over-dependence of local authority heads on members or councilors would create situations that are more damaging to their general administration. The composition of a local council is based on the total population of a local authority area and not on a ward basis. This has certain advantages as well as disadvantages. It permits members/councilors to pay attention to the local authority as a whole rather than to a ward that consists only of a few settlements with a small population. When the ward-based election system was in vogue, the services rendered or infrastructure constructed were generally of a small size due to the fact that these needs were generally limited to a smaller geographical area. Instead of such limitations, the members and councilors are now in a position to look at a broader spectrum and a larger geographical area, since they have to look up to and depend on a larger population for victory at elections.

Since the electoral system is proportional, it permits an elector to give his/her preference to a political party or an independent group. And elected members have no allegiance to the micro level. Moreover, under the previous composition minorities, including small political parties, were finding it difficult to be elected due to limitations in the number of electors in each ward. However, under the present electoral system minorities can become a block vote and gain a place as a member or councilor. Such opportunity makes the minority members and councilors concentrate on their block vote by developing the areas occupied by such minorities, whether on political party, religion, race, caste or occupational basis. Hence, minorities have gained from the new electoral system. Notwithstanding these facts, there are clear-cut disadvantages inherent in the system. One is that the number of members and councilors is not so large to ensure service to a larger number in a geographically vast area, especially in case of Pradeshiya Sabhas (rural local authorities), creating under representation. There have been cases where some smaller villages could not go to the Chairpersons or Mayors due to various socio-political reasons. Besides, minority populations mostly inhabited the villages that were left out.

The financial position of local authorities is not so sound to plan services for a larger geographical area as this involves large investments. This has become more apparent in urban local authorities where the urban poor, living in shanties and squatter settlements, do not pay any rates. Therefore, in some local authorities, they were not given the same service compared to the ratepayers. In an electoral system that requires coverage of a larger area, more money is needed to contest elections and hence poor elements could not be adequately represented. Therefore, such people had to suffer for want of proper representation. It is sufficient to note that in the Colombo municipality area 42 per cent of the total population are living in under-served or low income settlements, but they are not represented accordingly.

Lack of representation of poverty-stricken population in the composition of local authority membership has affected even the composition of committees, especially that of the municipal councils. The law provides for appointment of various committees to assist the administration of local authorities. Since political input has been uppermost in the minds of the politicians in power at municipal councils, adequate representation has not been the case in sectoral committees, even though the opposition groups or members deserved representation. Therefore, the difficulties faced by the poorer groups have increased. In case of the Pradeshiya Sabhas the law provides for the appointment of committees. These could include residents of the areas. While appointment of these committees is rare, even in cases where committees were appointed, the opportunities given to the political opponents and the disadvantaged groups were minimal.

Table 3. Distribution of Local Authorities in Sri Lanka

The administrative structure is similar in all local authorities, although the designations are different. The municipal councils are headed by Mayors with deputy Mayors and members of the councils making policy and policy implementation decisions. The Mayor is the Chief Executive and is assisted by the municipal Commissioner, who is a senior public official. There are several departments under the administration of a municipal Commissioner, depending on size, complexity, staff availability and resources of the municipality. For instance, the Colombo municipality has several departments under the Commissioner, headed by a secretary, a chief engineer, an internal auditor, a veterinary surgeon, a chief medical officer of health and an assessor with sub units in each department. This structure is not in place in many other local authorities, although there are some counterparts to those officials in other municipal councils.

Local Government Functions

Section 40 of the Municipal Council Ordinance lists the general powers of municipal councils. These are generally routine administrative powers, such as recruitment of officials, acquisition of assets, licensing, instituting legal actions, budgeting and supplementary budgeting. Since municipal councils have to be careful about unauthorized constructions in their area of authority, one important power given to the municipal councils is the power to demolish unauthorized buildings. Municipal councils provide public infrastructure services and are authorized to acquire lands for public purposes. The general duties of the municipal councils are more important for the well being of the public. At the same time these duties also serve as performance indicators of municipal councils, assisting the public to consider election of members for a second time. The duties as stated in section 46 are as follows:

• Maintaining and clearing of all public streets and open spaces vested in the council or committed to its management;
• Enforcing the proper maintenance, cleaning and repairing of all private streets;
• Supervising and providing growth and development by planning and widening of streets, reservation of open spaces and execution of public improvements;
• Abating all nuisances;
• Establishing and maintaining public utilities for the welfare, comfort and convenience of the public; and
• Promoting public health, welfare and the development of sanitation and amenities.

Law gives extensive powers to local authorities to meet their responsibilities. This includes making it mandatory for the police to help local authorities in enforcing their regulations. A majority of municipal council functions, such as health and sanitation activities, solid waste disposal, greening of the areas under their control and development of parks, could all be categorized as environmental activities. By law, provision has been made to appoint a committee of councilors for the purpose of preparing schemes regarding maintenance of residential premises and for making recommendations on the payment of incentives to qualified occupiers of residences. This is an opportunity to prove the capacity to create participation of the public in maintaining higher standards of environment. Of course, one disheartening feature is that often such schemes or incentives are not made available to the public. Although laws have given vast amounts of power to create a sustainable and habitable environment in urban areas, it is found that the development processes have not been that effectively executed. For instance, the vast heaps of garbage on roadsides in Colombo, squalor in slum shanties and conditions of market places are good indicators of mismanagement in municipal councils.

Another important power in the hands of municipal councils is market facilitation and regulation in their areas of authority. While municipal councils can facilitate economic development using these powers in theory, most municipal councils have not been able to take advantage of these regulations or have failed to facilitate or regulate economic activities. If one roams around in any city one will find that most of the solid waste in cities originates from the market places that are expected to be supervised by the municipal councils or urban committees. Furthermore, the powers given to medical and health officers to inspect important places of business, especially hotels and restaurants are not exercised regularly, causing hardships to the consumers. The municipal magistrate system that permits trying offenders under 30 different laws could be used to maintain order, discipline, health and the environment.

In addition the municipal councils are permitted to borrow for development activities, acquisition of lands, plant, machinery and equipment. Of course, there are certain limitations placed for certain transactions such as issue of debentures, housing bonds etc. Besides, the activities of local authorities are audited by the auditor general. This has a salutary effect on somewhat reasonable maintenance of accounts. However, there have been instances of gross violation of financial regulations (irregular awards of contracts etc.) that have even been reflected at the level of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. One weakness has been the general delay in such exposures due to the general weaknesses in government auditing. This is a common feature not only with respect to local authorities, but also in the case of other government departments and corporations. One important revenue-generating method in municipal councils has been the regular revision of rates. Generally rates are revised every five years. Complaints have been made of unreasonable increases in municipal council rates. On the other hand complaint is made to the effect that some local authorities do not revise the rates by given time periods. Another observation is that some central politicians try to influence the rate revision process for their political gain, irrespective of the effects on local authorities' finances.

The powers of urban councils are enumerated in a separate ordinance: the Urban Council Ordinance. Their general powers and duties are not very different from the municipal councils. The vested assets of urban councils show some similarity to municipal councils, since parks, open spaces, gardens, canals, public markets and public buildings within the urban council areas become the property of urban councils. The duties of urban councils as given in section 35 of the ordinance are almost similar to the corresponding section of the Municipal Council Ordinance. The main functions of the urban councils, like those of the municipal councils are environmental in nature. Besides, urban councils, like municipal councils, are authorised to maintain and regulate markets. Pradeshiya Sabhas enjoy powers similar to municipal and urban councils with regards to routine administration of their areas. In Pradeshiya Sabhas the focus is on thoroughfares, public health and market places and, thus, the focus on services and environment has not changed. However, due to lack of finances these functions and services have not been sufficiently undertaken in many Pradeshiya Sabhas.

When both ordinances were promulgated, the central government was to supervise the functioning of local authorities. However, with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution this power has been transferred to the provincial councils. Similarly, processes of inquiry and oversight of local authorities have been transferred to provincial councils. These powers have granted provincial councils to check the excesses of individual municipal and urban councils, where Mayors and Chairmen considered themselves above the law as elected representatives of the people. However, certain recent judgements show that deliberate harassment has been caused to some of the Chief Executive Officers, Chairmen and Mayors that might have been based on political conflicts, questioning the objectivity of the provincial council members. Political parties have taken a keen interest in local authority elections, injecting politics in the decision making of the development process. One negative impact of such behaviour at local authority level is the neglect of development needs when the management of local authority is in hands of the people who do not have the same political affiliation. As noted this is particularly of concern in Pradeshiya Sabhas. This situation has degraded the standards at the local level. Although such criticisms can be levelled against local authority administrations, on the whole the concept to think and act locally at the local authority level has not been shelved.

Local Government Finances

The three local authority legislations provide for the creation of a Municipal Fund, a Local Fund and a Pradeshiya Sabha Fund for the municipal councils, the urban councils and the Pradeshiya Sabhas respectively. Besides, these legislations empower local authorities to take necessary action to ensure that revenue generation takes place according to the wishes of the local authorities. Although the wording may differ, generally the following sources could be considered as the base of the above-mentioned Funds:

• All rates, taxes, duties, fees and other charges levied by the council;
• All fines levied and penalties received under the authority of the Municipal Council Ordinance or under any enactments specified in section 163 or in respect of any offenses to which the President extends the jurisdiction of the municipal magistrate;
• The amount of all stamp duties and fees specified in the second schedule to the ordinances. (i.e. Boats Ordinance, Vehicle Ordinance, etc.);
• All sums realized by sales, leases or other transaction of the municipal council;
• All revenue derived by the municipal council from any property vested in the municipal council or by the administration of any public service;
• All sums and all revenues regularly appropriated or transferred to the municipal council by Parliament;
• All grants allocated to the municipal council; and
• All sums otherwise accruing to the municipal council in the course of the exercise of its powers and duties.

The sources of funds are very wide. But the collection of some of these sources has not been so easy. For example, recovery of fines and penalties from courts, stamp duties, revenue from vested properties and even the payments for services rendered to public authorities have not been so easy though specified in law. The delays in receipt of such money have been considerable and all efforts to obtain money from some of the semi-government authorities (e.g. Airport Aviation Authority) have not been fully successful. The most reliable source of finance has been from the provincial councils. The Finance Commission gives the grants for establishment and development purposes. Since under the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, all recurrent expenditures of local authorities are to be borne by the government, the Finance Commission has to allocate funds for that purpose. Funds required for development purposes are planned by the provincial council and submitted to the Finance Commission for making provisions. Since there were difficulties to accommodate all requests, there was a negotiating process, after which the total amounts for development activities were decided upon.

Table 3. Provision of Funds for Local Authorities (in thousands of RS)

Source : Finance Commission (1996)

It is observed that all urban local authorities are dependent on the government grants disbursed by the Finance Commission through the provincial councils. If a 30 per cent dependency ratio is considered a satisfactory phenomenon in revenue sharing, 5 out of 14 municipal councils can be considered to be generating sufficient funds. However, only 3 out of 37 urban councils have achieved this level. Another source of funding that does not come under the purview of the provincial council is the supply of funds through the decentralized district budget. Here the members of Parliament decide on the amounts of money to be invested in capital works in local authorities. While deciding on priorities, they may be receptive to citizen groups, but not necessarily to elected representatives of local authorities. This is particularly true in case an opposition party controls the local authority.

Allowing members of Parliament to allocate capital development funds through the district budgets has had other negative impacts as well. Often members of Parliament are keen on the construction of new facilities such as markets, playgrounds, roads etc. However, the district budget does not provide for maintenance of such facilities. Local authorities are thus saddled with maintenance of facilities they did not ask for and for which they do not have finances. District and divisional secretaries who are supposed to be neutral civil servants have often succumbed to the demands of the members of Parliament and, in many cases, have built facilities knowing that the concerned local authority did not have adequate capacity to maintain these. Central development grants cannot be passed directly to local authorities and must be disbursed through the provincial councils. However, central government loses control over the use of the funds once they are passed to the provincial councils. Considerations other than development often take precedence in decision making at provincial council level, resulting in the fact that development programmes of some local authorities that deserve funding remain unfunded.

Since taxation or fee levying is a politically sensitive issue, some of the attempts to increase revenue have become quite unpopular. Even the normal increase of rates that is done once every five years is not a popular move. There have been instances of postponement of such action, perhaps due to pending elections. An issue that has been a bone of contention is the limitation in revenue earnings by local authorities, especially in urban areas, due to the take-over of certain services such as water supply, drainage and electricity supply that could be undertaken easily by local authorities. When inquiries are made on this issue, government-owned organizations argue that the liabilities of local authorities have been far greater than their capacities would permit to perform. At the same time in urbanized areas such as Colombo, the local authority is not in a position to perform its legitimate role to serve the total population. This is best observed in case of low-income settlements. Since land ownership or land rights are not established in case of slum/shanty dwellers, they have not been considered as formal residents of the municipal council areas. Hence services rendered to them are restricted or different. That has reduced the revenue generation capacity of the municipal council. This cannot be corrected as long as discrimination takes place in servicing the low-income settlements in municipal council areas.

Personnel Systems in Local Government

In the past, the civil service was divided into two cadres: the public service and the local government service for which civil servants were separately recruited and trained. The Public Service Commission and the Local Government Commission oversaw both services. Although officially both services were considered equal, the public service was seen as superior to the local government service, particularly with regards to clerical, supervisory staff and technical grades. With the amalgamation of the local government service this situation changed. The administrative service officials in the local government services were absorbed into the Sri Lanka Administrative Service. After implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, local government was automatically subjected to the provincial council and civil servants of local authorities automatically became officers of the provincial public service. As such they were subjected to the provincial Public Service Commission authority and became transferable between local authorities. Hence, rules and regulations applicable to the provincial Public Service Commission are applicable to local authorities' employees as well. Of course, with the amalgamation of services, there have been discrepancies in certain grades - especially in technical grades - as far as service conditions and other perks are concerned.

Resulting from the fact that all recurrent establishment costs are borne from allocations made by the Finance Commission under block grants, provincial councils, and through them local authorities, are forced to decide on cadres, job description and recruitment procedures as dictated by the centre. Job descriptions of cadres determined in the early nineteen seventies were revised only in the mid-nineties, since the provincial council and local authorities had to wait until the government agreed to a revision while services, population and investments have increased during a period of about 25 years. The process of cadre determination is tedious: needs are studied and proposals are submitted to the Ministry of Local Authorities that submits the proposal for staff revision to the Cabinet of Ministers. The normal procedure is to direct the salaries and cadre committees of the central government to study the proposal and submit the proposal back to the Cabinet with a recommendation. A government that is being pressurized by the World Bank and the IMF will not, as a rule, increase public service cadres. Being aware of this situation, the committee usually has a habit of reducing the numbers in the proposal. Generally speaking, the Cabinet accepts the committees' recommendation. Upon approval of the Cabinet, recruitment procedures are applied. Depending on requirements and grades, the decision is taken who should do the recruitment. Generally, civil servants for all-island services are recruited by the central government, whereas the provincial Public Service Commission takes responsibility in recruiting civil servants for other services.

The induction training for all island services is undertaken by the centre while others are mostly trained on the job. Some provincial councils, such as those of the central and northwestern provinces, have their own training centres for local government employees. There are other central organizations, such as the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration, that undertake training. In the Ministry of Local Government, the Local Government Management Unit assists provincial councils with training civil servants. Since foreign training is a centrally reserved subject, the line ministry has a hold on the training of local authorities' officials. The World Bank-assisted Municipal Management Programme has been responsible for giving many training opportunities to well-performing local authorities, their officials and political heads. At present, the Urban Development Sector Project (UDSP) implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Construction is assisting 17 selected Urban Local Authorities to increase their institutional capacity by way of providing facilities and training. In spite of all these training programmes, one serious complaint made by local authorities is the shortage of senior officials (i.e. accountants, administrative officers, engineers etc.) to service the local authorities. Some experts have claimed that this shortage of staff is responsible for the weak performance of local authorities. The reason for this shortfall is that because the provincial council system is just ten years old, provincial councils are concentrating on building their institutions and capacities at the expense of local authorities in their provinces. For the past ten years, most of the important positions within local authorities have been held by officials who have been seconded from the centre, to offset this braindrain from local authorities to provincial councils.

Central-Local Links

The constitutional provisions under item Four of List One of the Ninth Schedule give a clear indication on the autonomous nature of local authorities. The national government agrees on a national local government policy and determines the form, structure and constitution of local authorities. The supervision of the management of local authorities is the responsibility of the provincial councils. This demarcation of power and authority, although clear, is not totally adhered to between the centre and the provincial councils, due to other legal provisions. For example, under the Municipal Council Ordinance (Section 11), Urban Council Ordinance (Section 10) and the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act (Section 5), the central Minister is authorized to curtail or extend the term of office of the members of these local authorities by one year. This authority has been exercised by the Minister of Local Government on several occasions in the past and his authority has not been challenged so far.

Under the Constitution, the President appoints the Governor and the chief secretary of the Province. In addition most of the key officials such as secretaries of provincial Ministries and provincial Commissioners are seconded from the centre to the provincial public service. Thus, not only local authorities but also provincial councils heavily depend on resources provided by the centre. The total establishment cost, including the remuneration of local elected officials, is borne by Finance Commission Grants disbursed through provincial councils. The Central Salaries and Cadre Committee is responsible for the re-enrolment of local government staff and their salaries. However, this authority of the Salaries and Cadre Committee to determine the vacancies of local authorities has created enormous problems. From the government's point of view this kind of action is necessary to restrict uncontrolled recruitment. Moreover, central government is under constant pressure to reduce public and local government service cadres. Therefore, the Salaries and Cadres Committee has restricted its work to determine the salary of local authorities in keeping with national policies.

The Commissioner of Elections conducts local government elections and maintains the appointment of membership in local authorities. However, throughout history the national political parties have been influencing the process by making national political issues the mainstay of canvassing votes for local authorities election. Moreover, in addition to their own electorate and the provincial councils, local authorities are answerable to Parliament through the auditor general and the Public Accounts Committee. This is particularly so for funds made available to local authorities by the Parliament through the provincial councils.

The power to take action against the local authorities management is provided in local government laws. For example, the power to remove the Chairperson or Mayor after due inquiry of is referred to in Section 277 of the Municipal Ordinance, Section 184 of the Urban Council Ordinance and Section 185 of the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act. The grounds for action under these sections are incompetence, mismanagement, default of performance, refusal or neglect to comply with provisions of law and only few business transactions.

The process of dissolution of a local authority has to be done through a legally accepted procedure. Basically the Minister (in the provincial council) should be satisfied that sufficient proof is available to take action against the local authority on the above counts. He has to appoint a retired judicial officer to report to him within three months on the allegations made against the local council. This enquiry has the power of a Commission of Enquiry appointed under the Commission of Inquiry Act. Depending on the circumstances, the Minister has the power to suspend the Mayor or the Chairperson and direct the deputy to carry on with the business of the council. If the deputy Mayor or Vice Chairperson also has been suspended, the municipal Commissioner or provincial Commissioner of local government of the area in which the municipal council, the urban council or the Pradeshiya Sabhas is located will be appointed to perform the functions of the Chief Executive. The power to suspend the respective councils and Sabhas is also provided for in law. When a Mayor is removed, the Minister has to appoint a Special Commissioner to manage the affairs of the municipal council.

The powers given to the Minister of Local Government in provincial councils on local authorities have to be exercised in a lawful manner. The provincial Commissioner of Local Government becomes the key official in advising the Minister to effect his/her powers. While before the process of devolution of power there was only one Commissioner of Local Government, there are eight of them now with a large number of officials, who inquire the affairs of the local authorities and make recommendations for action. However, although local authorities are supposed to be democratic administrative units, they are not fully autonomous, provincial councils can pass powers, functions and responsibilities on to local authorities under various statutes but cannot reduce constitutionality powers of local authorities. More powers could be granted to local authorities if necessary; the provincial councils of northwestern Province and Central Province have already given additional powers to local authorities engaged in development activities in their respective areas.

Extent of Public Participation

One of the main objectives of establishing local authorities is to give the public more opportunities to participate in the decision making process regarding the management and development of their respective council areas. For instance, the preamble to the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act states that: " (…) legislation is enacted with a view to provide greater opportunities for the people to participate effectively in the decision making process relating to administrative and development activities at a local level". Although there is provision in the local authority laws to appoint committees and facilitate peoples' participation, this provision has not been used meaningfully in the past. In 1996 some attempts were made in three provinces to increase people's participation in local authority's management and involve non-governmental agencies and the private sector in local government activities under the Citizen Participation Project (CIPART) funded by USAID. Unfortunately, due to financing problems this project has not taken off in the manner envisaged.

Phase II of the Urban Development Sector Project (UDSP), will be implemented soon in 51 local authorities by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in consultation with the Ministry of Provincial Council and Local Government. It intends to cover areas such as urban poverty and housing for the poor and will be implemented through active involvement of the beneficiary groups. In general some attempts have been made to bring the public in close conjunction with local authorities. The community development councils that were appointed in Colombo Municipal area could be considered as an example of such an attempt. 400 councils were registered but most are now inactive. The Clean Settlement Project implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, is expected to organize Community Action Groups (CAP) in Colombo municipal council area to assist the council. The Local Government Management Unit (LGMU) of the Ministry of Provincial Council and Local Government has initiated training programmes to reduce the distance between public and the LAs and increase people's participation in all management and development activities. If the CIPART Project had been executed as planned the role of LGMU would have been very large in human resources development in the local government sector.

Institutional arrangements are necessary to secure participation of people in local government administration and enhance the effectiveness of local authorities as local level democracies. The reintroduction of the ward system of local authority elections, though considered recently, has not been implemented as yet. Although local authorities were expected to reflect the views of the public at the grass root level, due to reasons such as social differences, politicisation and narrow gauging of functions, it is observed that good governance could not be achieved as envisaged. However, it should be noted that more than 80 per cent of the people voted in both local government elections held in 1991 and 1997. It is sometimes disheartening to note that popular participation ends after elections, making way for the traditional stronger member participation, in which decision-making either takes parochial trends or is influenced by vested interests.

Total membership of local authorities is 4,382. During last election held in March 1997 (except for northern and eastern provinces) 3,490 members were elected. The population to member ratio is around 4,500 to 1. In 1991 out of 4,382 members there were 55 women. In the 1997 election, only 39 women were elected. This shows that there is a decline in women's participation. Although women account for 50 per cent of the total population, representation in the local authorities is totally inadequate. This situation can be attributed to several reasons including their reluctance to compete with men of different political parties, expensive nature of the present system of proportional representation and cultural background where women are reluctant to be involved in conflicting political situations. Moreover, rough and time-consuming campaigns are also not to the liking of women. This situation is receiving serious attention of the present government and it may even necessitate legal provisions to ensure such participation, as in the case of youth participation. Under the present Local Government Election Law, political parties as well as independent groups are expected to nominate 40 per cent of the candidates below 35 years. As such there was an appreciable number of youth being elected during the last local government elections.

Under the present system, members of local authorities are not responsible for any particular ward. They are elected for the whole local authorities' area. Proposals have already been made to develop a system in the future, which will maintain closer links between the wards, the ward committees and the members. Under the present system of proportional representation, interests of minority groups are well protected. However, new proposals will not affect their interests and will focus on a combination of ward-based election and a proportional voting system. As mentioned earlier, the term of office of local authority members is four years. There is no term limitation for their election either by law or by political party regulations. They can stand for election as long as they command popular support. Local authorities are given powers to formulate their own by-laws in accordance with the provisions of the statutes. By-laws adopted by the respective local authorities under the powers vested with them are enforceable only after notifications have been gazetted for public information. In order to maintain uniformity and adherence to the provisions of the law, standard by-laws have been introduced. Such by-laws shall be brought before the provincial council and shall not be disallowed.

The Way Ahead

The local government system in Sri Lanka has been well established for a long period of time. However, due to operational requirements local governments are to a large extent dependent on and influenced by provincial councils and the central government, through cadres, finances and legal provisions to take action against local authority administration. Notwithstanding these facts, one important feature remains apparent: the democratic nature of elections in local authorities. The attempts to further strengthen local authority administration will depend on the availability of resources to upgrade planning skills in local authorities, the strengthening of their organisational structure, proper directing of networks, procedures and human resources development, better coordinating at the grass-roots and provincial level and enhancing revenue generation to make local authorities more self-sustaining.

References

Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Socio-Economic Data, 1996

Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report, 1996

Committee Report on Restructuring of Administrative System in Sri Lanka, 1995

Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1991

Amarasinghe, A. L., Human Resource Development: Towards Decentralization, 1994

Lailan, G. R. T., Local Government and Decentralization in Sri Lanka, 1979

Municipal Councils Ordinance and Amendment Act, 1987

Provincial Council, Operational Experience of Devolution: Report of the Committee to Study the Operation of the Provincial Council in Sri Lanka, 1996

Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15, 1987

Provincial Council Act No. 42, 1987

Local Government Management Unit, Training Modules on Legal Aspects, 1996

Urban Councils Ordinance and Amendments, 1987

Go to the beginning of the document