The local government at Killa Saifullah district comprises 12 Union Councils and one District Council. The mandate of local councils was to address various socio-economic development issues on local level through needs assessment, planning and implementation (see Annex 4 for functions of local government). These local councils are supervised and supported by Local Government and Rural Development Department through an Assistant Director at district level. However, it is a common complaint that instead of working as an auxiliary organisation, LG&RDD has been posing bureaucratic hurdles in the affairs of local government institutions.

Ideally, local government institutions are constituted on the assumption that in this way grass root decision making and implementation for development could be ensured; but this ideal has not been realised. Although small communities elect their representatives at local level and there is more intense interaction and exchange of ideas between representatives and the electoral college, participation of common people in the decision making process is minimal. After being elected, members of local councils rarely consult their voters on development issues. Similarly, the appraisal of development potential and planning for exploitation of this potential is not according to the bottom-up approach. Rather, a top-down decision making and implementation approach is followed. This approach leaves no room for participation of local government institutions in development planning. In addition, these institutions lack adequate funds on their own to finance development activities.

All local government institutions in Balochistan have been dissolved on 18^th of December 1996 for new elections in 1997. Now these institutions are working under the supervision of government officials. The Political Agent and the Development Officer, LG&RDD administer the District Council and the Union Councils respectively.

The Union Council is the lowest local government institution. The allocated membership of each Union Council in Killa Saifullah district varies from 11-17 members. The elected councillors in every Union Council have to elect 2 women and one peasant member in their Union Council. In the entire district only one Union Council, i.e., Tubli is reported to have a woman councillor. All the other Union Councils and the District Council have no woman councillor. There are 12 Union Councils in Killa Saifullah district (list is given in Annex 1).

Ideally, the Union Council provides an opportunity for the people of rural areas to participate in decision making at micro level. It was assumed that a council of a small community will have better chances of intense interaction and grass root appraisal of the problems of the people. However, the Union Council is not consulted in development planning for the rural areas. Usually decision making follows a top-down approach, therefore, nullifying the ideal function of Union Councils. In addition, the Union Council has never received the financial support it was supposed to receive, to be able to fulfil its functions, as described in the Local Government Ordinance of 1980.

The only income of 10 out of 12 Union Councils is a regular grant of rupees 18,000 per annum by the provincial government. This small amount does not allow the Union Council to plan development strategies for the people in rural areas. The Union Council is not consulted in development planning for the rural areas.

The Union Councils of Muslim Bagh and Killa Saifullah earned a considerable sum from octroi. In the financial year 1995-96, the Union Council, Muslim Bagh earned 1.2 million rupees and the Union Council of Killa Saifullah earned rupees 916,500 million rupees. All this amount was collected through contractors. Killa Saifullah UC aims to contract out its octroi collection for the year 1997-98 for an amount of 1.8 million rupees, however, bidding has yet to take place. The annual financial liabilities (salaries of the staff) of Killa Saifullah UC amount to 0.8 million rupees.

Both Killa Saifullah UC and Muslim Bagh UC have arranged for sanitation of the towns and garbage collection. Moreover, these Union Councils have constructed drains in the towns which are repaired regularly.

At present (1997), no Town Committee exists in Killa Saifullah district. However, the district administration has proposed upgrading of the Union Councils of Muslim Bagh and Killa Saifullah to the status of Town Committees.

At present (1997), there is no Municipal Committee in the district.

The District Council Killa Saifullah comprises 14 councillors out of which 12 are elected directly (one from each of the 12 Union Councils) while 2 councillors including one peasant and one labourer are elected indirectly by the elected councillors. The District Council is primarily responsible for the overall development of rural areas of the district (detailed functions of the local government institutions are described in Annex 4).

Apart from special grants and annual development plans, zila (district) tax is the sole source of regular income for the District Council. The income and expenditure statements were not provided by the District Council office.