Ministry bureaucrats are resisting the government's effort to push devolution — the move to localize more government decision making and taxing authority. The government's devolution panel sent questionnaires to government ministries last fall to solicit their opinions on abolishing or integrating their local bureaus. But no ministry has come up with a positive answer to the idea.
If these bureaus were downsized, personnel, financial resources and administrative powers could be transferred to local governments, accelerating the process of devolution. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda should exercise leadership in this matter.
In addition to sending the questionnaires, the panel in January began directly querying ministry officials on their attitude toward the abolition and integration of local bureaus. But it faces a thick wall of resistance. The Land, Infrastructure and Traffic Ministry, for example, refused to give its local bureaus' power over erosion-control projects to prefectural governments although the latter can manage such projects. Likewise, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry would not give up its local bureaus' power over support for small enterprises. If this situation continues, the panel's interim report, scheduled to be made public around May, will lack substance.
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