Dzongkhag Tshogdu Thrizin awarded Patang by His Majesty
History was made when
His Majesty the King awarded Patangs to twenty chairpersons of Dzongkhag
Tshogdu on 17th Decembere 2019 coinciding with 109th
National Day. Never in their dreams would they have thought that they would
become first batch of thrizin to receive such a great honor. The patangs were awarded in recognition of
important roles local government play in affairs of state. His Majesty reminded
them that local government is the nearest and closest form of government and
commanded them to serve Tsa-Wa-Sum with utmost devotion and loyalty. Indeed, it
was unforgettable day for those thrizins. A thrizin of Dzongkhag Tshogdu
is legally the head of district and chairperson of highest decision making and
rules framing body of the district. A thrizin (in theory) has
responsibilities of guiding, reviewing and ensuring implementation of plans and
policies of the district. A thrizin (in theory) has authority to command
district/ gewog civil servants and elected leaders to function in line with
vision, mission and objectives of the district. The gift of patangs by His
Majesty makes their roles more pronounced and inspire them to work harder for
welfare of the district. The award of patang will go a long way in boosting
their morale and uplifting their image and stature.
It has been many years
since the decision making powers of the district was handed over to elected
local leaders yet the authority to shake and move largely remain with local
bureaucrats. The authority of tshogdu chairperson remains mostly in the books.
His/her role is limited to sessions of Dzongkhag Tshogdu especially in the
dzongkhag where some dzongdags don’t give thrizins their due to
recognition. By virtue of being Chief Executive Officer who leads qualified and
experienced officials, the real authority remains with dzongdag. Even during
the session, the suggestions and views expressed by Dzongdag is almost always endorsed
without a second thought. For some dzongkhags especially where district
executive officers are overbearing, the local leaders are vulnerable to
manipulation.
Despite local leaders being
there for a long time, they had been always following instructions from
district authority. Also our local leaders are yet to come out from cocoon of
experiment and they are to their right place in the affairs of district. As of
now, they are unsure of their footing in governance and few bureaucrats subtly
exploit this situation to implement their preferred policies or carry out
instruction of political masters from centre. One common tactic is influencing
local leaders using laws, policies and the rules and regulation of this and
that agency to dissuade local leaders from getting their ways. Such practices
could be attributed to nascent stage of current practice of local government
system.
This could change now.
With award of Patang, their status, confidence, image and stature in local
government is greatly enhanced. When His Majesty the King himself bestows
immense trust in elected local government leaders, bureaucrats too must respect
competence and importance of local government leaders. This great gesture on
part of Druk Gyalpo will instill greater sense of ownership of local affairs by
local leaders. It may also waken in them the sense of competition among gups for
a post of chairperson ( as of now some feel chairmanship is felt to be additional burden by gups and most
feel they are unable to concentrate of affairs of gewog). Further, more
educated and competent people might opt to contest in local elective process
because of the enhanced status given. In conclusion, hope that local leaders
take their rightful place in affairs of local governance and also hope
bureaucrats in local government learn to follow directives of them instead of
looking at local government just as formalities.
I offer humble
congratulation to all thrizins.
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