20000204

CE outlines power devolution framework

ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said that devolution of power to district level and ameliorating the lot of downtrodden and poor people was the basic objective of the government.

In an exclusive interview with PTV telecast on Thursday night, he said the government would devolve power to the district level and make them self-supporting.

It would be, he said: "a four-dimensional framework Ñ right people are elected and they take control of district government, providing justice to the people at their doorsteps, making districts financially autonomous and to devise a mechanism to weed out the corrupt and incompetent members of the district elected bodies."

The districts would be able to raise finances themselves in the areas to be determined by the government to meet their needs, the chief executive said.

He said the poor districts would be provided assistance by the government.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf said: "The central theme of the government's programme was improving the lot of 75 percent downtrodden and poor people. We have to bring them (the poor) up."

The government, he said, would devolve maximum power at the district level and ensure that the districts were self-supporting and self-financing. "I think this (the devolution of power) will bring major change in the country," the chief executive said.

He said the government would ensure that the right people were elected to the district bodies. "For this purpose, some sort of electoral reforms would be effected."