PRESIDENT KARZAI MOVES SUB-NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 002684 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR AHARRIMAN OSD FOR SHIVERS CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT RELEASABLE TO NATO/ISAF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID KDEM PGOV AF SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KARZAI MOVES SUB-NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION FROM MOI TO NEW INDEPENDENT OFFICE SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) President Karzai has decided to move the Ministry of Interior's civil administration division -- responsible for governors, district administrators, mayors, and civil registry functions -- to a new Independent Office for Sub-National Governance under the Office of the President. This welcome reform removes the police-dominated MOI as an extra layer between the Presidency and sub-national officials, giving Karzai direct oversight over -- and accountability for -- governors and provincial councils and is designed to help unify policies and reform efforts at the provincial level, increase central government outreach to the provinces, encourage better coordination among sub-national officials, and increase accountability. The success of the effort depends on strong leadership of the new Office. An announcement is pending on who will hold the post. The Community Development Councils (CDCs) will remain with the MRRD. END SUMMARY. CIVIL ADMINISTRATION MOVES FROM MOI TO THE PALACE -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) President Karzai decided at a minister-level meeting on July 21 to move the Ministry of Interior's civil administration division -- i.e. oversight of governors, district administrators, and mayors, as well as civil registry functions -- to a new Independent Office for Sub-National Governance under the Office of the President. The MOI will focus exclusively on police (and counter-narcotics),with no role in sub-national civil administration. According to UNAMA, President Karzai tasked a group of advisors to prepare the staffing pattern for the new Independent Office and an implementation plan for approval at the next cabinet meeting after the Peace Jirga, to be followed by a decree formalizing the change. ¶3. (SBU) MOI Deputy Minister for Civil Administration Abdul Malik Sediqi told Pol Counselor that the new Independent Office will have the same status as other IRoA independent commissions, including the Civil Service Commission or Human Rights Commission. It will be led by a minister-level official who will report directly to the President (but, as part of the Palace, will not require parliamentary review) and two deputies for management and policy. Sediqi claimed the reform had been his idea and indicated he hoped to be named as head of the new office. (Note: Faruk Wardak, DG for the Office of Administrative Affairs in the Palace has shared with us that, while the President has confidence in Sediqi as an administrator, he will not be asked to lead the office. End Note) ¶4. (SBU) The scope of the change is enormous. Eighty percent of the MOI Civil Administration Division's 10,000 employees working across Afghanistan will shift from the MOI to the new Independent Office. It will thus have authority over the elected and appointed government officials at the provincial and district level, as well as the lead on sub-national governance policies, which could help increase coordination with the provincial representatives of the various line ministries. Sediqi claims adminstrative authority for the provincial councils (which now lies with Wardak's office) will be moved to the new Office. While the decisions are not final, other responsibilities may include not only oversight of sub-national officials, but also most civilian registration functions like birth and marriage certificates, and national ID cards. Some unspecified registry functions are also likely to shift to the Central Statistical Office. SUB-NATIONAL GOVERNANCE AND THE MOI: FREE AT LAST -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Chief of Staff Omar Daudzai told Pol Counselor in June that MOI reform has been a subject of discussion for three years. He acknowledged the Ministry's dual KABUL 00002684 002 OF 003 responsibility for civil administration and police is "huge, too much for one ministry." Sub-national governance oversight languished in part because MOI senior officials fixated on police reform, which draws the bulk of donor funds. Daudzai also acknowleged tensions between Minister Zarar and Sediqi. Two years ago, donors began avoiding the Civil Affairs Division rather than work with the ineffective and corrupt Afghanistan Stabilization Program (ASP) which had been established to manage international donor assistance for governance. This contributed to a growing rift between Sediqi and Minister Zarar. ASP is little changed, now run by Minister Zarar's brother-in-law. ¶6. (SBU) The Civil Affairs Division remained marginalized even as sub-national governance reform became a priority. Other parts of the Afghan Government have moved in to fill the vaccuum, building a political base and drawing funds from donors interested in supporting sub-national governance as they do so. Faruk Wardak's Office of Administrative Affairs (OAA) took administrative authority over Provincial Councils from the MOI, as formalized in the PC Law amended in March, but may give up that role to the new Independent Office. The NSC is developing an outreach program to traditional leaders funded by the Government of Norway. There are hints of a tug of war between Chief of Staff Daudzai, the NSC, and Farook Wardak's office over how much involvement each will have in sub-national governance. ¶7. (SBU) At this point, the MOI does little more than rubber stamp presidential appointees and leave the 34 Provincial Governors -- over whom Sediqi and Zarar have little control -- to fend for themselves. This leads to the isolation of some officials while others invest time, energy, and resources building an independent power based both in the province and within the goverment. In a meeting with PolOffs in June, Deputy Minister Sediqi blamed the lack of international attention -- and money -- for his moribund division, but he acknowledged the Division's weak performance and the need for a shake-up. The Administration Division's own strategic plan -- candid to a fault -- reads like a description of how to build a ministry from scratch, including diagnosing a need for "attitudinal adjustment of senior leaders" among its many suggestions for reform. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS REMAIN WITH MRRD -------------- -- ¶8. (SBU) The new Independent Office will become the central authority over GOA entities at the provincial and district levels, but the most significant GOA entity at the community/village level remains the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD). MRRD's National Solidarity Program has successfully established 17,000 Community Development Councils (CDCs) and is expanding to cover 23,000 communities, as well as developing District Development Assemblies (DDAs). CDCs are designed to gradually increase support for the government at the grass-roots level, where they compete with and emerge out of traditional tribal structures. In Kabul, CDCs are viewed as the political territory of Minister of Education Hanif Atmar, who began the program when he led MRRD. Following the reform, CDCs will be the only GOA sub-national institutions that do not report directly to the Palace. USG POISED TO SUPPORT THE REFORM -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Consolidating authority over sub-national governance into a central focal point in the Palace is a first step in centralizing reform efforts and introducing accounatability. We have underlined -- to Daudzai, Wardak, and Sediqi directly -- our support for the move. We have shared our willingness to support with resources a plan that chooses high quality local officials (governors in particular), invests in them and rewards performance, holds them KABUL 00002684 003 OF 003 accountable, and keeps them in place long enough to make a difference. We are also prepared to invest in the new office to allow it to be accoutable itself. We are beginning discussions on how USAID's sub-national governance program, which had planned to help the MOI develop its "common functions," will shift its capacity development work to the new Independent Office. WOOD