The local government at Kohlu district comprises 9 union councils, one town committee and one district council. The mandate of local councils is to address various socio-economic development issues on local level through need assessment, planning and implementation (see annex 4 for functions of local government). These local councils are supervised and supported by the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) through an Assistant Director posted at Kohlu. However, it is a common complaint that instead of working as an auxiliary organisation, LG&RDD plays a constrictive role in the affairs of the local government institutions by posing bureaucratic hurdles.

Local government institutions were constituted on the assumption that grassroots 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, participation of the common man in the decision-making process is minimal. After election, members of local councils rarely consult their voters on development issues. In practice, the appraisal of development potential and planning for the exploitation of this potential does not happen 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.

All the local government institutions in Balochistan have been dissolved on 18^th of December 1996 for new elections, expected to be held in April 1998. Now these local government institutions are working under the supervision of government officials.

The union council is the smallest local government institution. In Kohlu membership of union councils varies from 6-9 members. In addition, the elected councillors in every union council elect 2 women and one peasant representatives in their union council. There are 9 union councils in the district, a list of which is given in annex 1.

Ideally, a 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 grassroots appraisal of the people’s problems. Yet, in practice, chairmanship of union councils has often become a status symbol. In many cases, this has made this vital institution an aggregation of uninterested councillors under the chairmanship of a person with political motives. Distribution of zakat, prominence in the area and small favours by public officials are some of the vested interests which attracts most of the people to the chairmanship of a union council.

The only income of the union councils is a regular grant of rupees 18 thousand per annum from 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. Usually, decision making follows a top-down approach, therefore, nullifying the potential function of union councils.

As no tax culture prevails in Kohlu, union councils are helpless regarding development activities. Even after repeated efforts no accounts of the union councils could be made available.

At present (1997) there is only one town committee in the district, i.e. Kohlu. It comprises 9 councillors of which 6 are elected directly, one from each of the 5 wards and one by the non-Muslims; these elected councillors elect 2 women and one labourer as councillors. The Town Committee seems to have failed in providing civic facilities. Solid waste management is minimal. There has never been any sewerage system or town planning in Kohlu.

The only permanent source of income for the Town Committee is octroi and business fees. However due to tribal nature of the area hardly anybody pays these taxes. Thus TC Kohlu is unable to pay salary of the town committee’s employees. No detail of accounts of the Town Committee could be furnished. However, according to the local sources no development activities are carried out by the Town Committee.

A strict vigilance on the import of octroiable goods and an efficient octroi collection mechanism with full support of the district administration can improve the financial condition of the town committee through an increase in revenue.

At present (1997) there is no municipal committee in the district.

The district council Kohlu consists of 13 councillors, out of which 9 are elected directly (one from each of the 9 union councils) and 4 councillors, including 2 women, one peasant and one labourer representatives, are elected by the elected councillors. The district council is primarily responsible for the overall development of rural areas of the district (see Annex 4 for detailed functions of the local government institutions).

According to statistics provided by the Assistant Director, LG&RDD, in 1994-95 the total recurrent expenditure of the council was rupees 466,822 while in 1995-96 it decreased to rupees 279,943. No income was mentioned by the Assistant Director. According to the Treasury Office, total expenditure under the head of District Fund was rupees 1,278,305 in 1994-95 and rupees 895,952 in 1995-96. On the other hand, total receipt under this head was rupees 366,630 in the year 1994-95 and rupees 280,000 in 1995-96. As the council is not properly functional due to absence of elected representatives, it is hard to comment on financial affairs of the district council.