The prospects of new local government system: An empirical study of the local government in District Dera Ismail Khan (DIK)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to study the ground-realities of the system by gathering empirical facts and
figures from the real actors of the local government work. Empirical results show that there is a lack of
understanding of the system itself by all the users, which is making the system-performance-evaluation more
ambiguous, complicated and thus, subject to a variety of interpretations. The regression analysis exposes
other variables to determine the system prospects; however, the dominant beta-score of ‘popular
participation’ and ‘government intervention’ convey a different message. That is, efforts should be made to
increase participation but more importantly, a visible mechanism must be put in place to stop government
intervention. It is however, worth mentioning that the public is optimistic about the new system and they are
enthusiastic about the future of the system provided all the publicly noticed weaknesses and problems of the
new system are taken up instantly and uprooted in time.