Local Government and Community Development in the Sudan
| Date | 01 January 1969 |
| Author | B. S. Sharma |
| Published date | 01 January 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1969.tb00360.x |
Local Government and Community
Development in the Sudan
By B. S.
SHARMA
Dr. Sharma is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University
of Khartoum.
ONE
of the purposes of local government, besides decentralizing admirus-
tration, is to provide an institutional framework for the participation of the
people in the process of government at the grass roots. But local government
institutions in the developing countries have failed to promote the necessary
activity and initiative from the people. During the colonial period the
introduction
of
local government did provide an institutional framework but
failed to invoke popular participation. Local government was more an
instrument of central government than an institution to instil confidence
amongst the councillors since the ultimate responsibility for taking decisions
in matters of a purely local character rested very largely with the central
government. Also the representative character of local government was often
greatly undermined by the appointment of official nominees. After
independence even when an attempt was made to remove some
of
these
defects, the old image of local government has continued to persist. Local
government as a limb of the central government does not excite the people
to keen participation; rather general apathy and lack of interest is the rule.
It
is this attitude which Community Development schemes are seeking to
remedy.
The
community development programme, however, is not based
on the sanctions
of
the government, although introduced by it. It is
essentially an educational process whereby people are enabled to participate
actively and to improve their communal life. One result of this should also
be to overcome their apathy in the political life of the country, and in
particular to strengthen genuine local government.
In the Sudan local government has never really had a chance of working
as an autonomous institution. There is a need not only to reorganize local
government institutions to meet the requirements
of
democracy and
independence, but also to infuse a new spirit of self-help and initiative
amongst the people. It is the latter function which community development
seeks to achieve.
Local Government
During the British regime in the Sudan an institutional framework
of
local government was provided by a number of ordinances.
The
Milner
Report
of
1921 recommended the transfer of simple administrative functions
to the native agencies on the Lugardian model and the Powers of Sheikhs
Ordinances 1927, 1928 and 1932 granted some judicial and financial
responsibilities to local agencies. But the main consideration was adminis-
..6
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