By: Gulfam Tarar Advocate
Pakistan is facing multiple challenges at multiple fronts. The sole reason behind the gigantic problems of Pakistan is the poor and pathetic performance of the institutions of Pakistan. Every successive government devised policies and plans to eliminate institutional maladies but could not bring constructive reforms. Multiple reasons are responsible for the failure of those policies like lack of strong political will, short-term policies and strong resistance from bureaucracy.
.Sad to say, the incumbent government of Pakistan – Tehreek-a-Insaf has also failed very badly on this front. They have not tackled the issues that are basically responsible for bad governance and institutional decay. New reforms put more checks and balances upon bureaucracy without overhauling the whole institutional structure. To bring constructive and far- reaching reforms, we have to identify the factors that are responsible for the collapse of institutions.
Institutional decay is the result of the recruitment of officials on the base of nepotism and through illegal means. It is pertinent to mention here that Anti Corruption Establishment of Punjab has apprehended a network of corrupt officials of Punjab Public Service Commission that were involved in the leakage of papers. So, it can be said that corruption and nepotism are eroding transparency of process of recruitment in civil services. At the same time, there is a stark difference between superior and non-superior services in terms of perks, privileges and promotion. These differences hamper the working efficiency and public service delivery on the part of those who are discriminated and are underprivileged. Similarly, civil servants lack professional training and advance skills to work in the era of information and technology. They have little acquaintance with the concept of E-governance. Further, system of promotion of officials is outdated. Promotion of any officer solely depends on the will of higher authority not on the base of his performance. Furthermore, staff working at district level hardly has skills to tackle the issues of marginalized sections of society.
However, situation can be made better by eliminating the root causes of bad governance by revitalizing key institutions of state. First of all, the government will have to appoint the heads of Federal Services Commission and Provincial Service Commission on merit in order to bring competent and talented officers in government services. In addition, the government should end differences between superior and non-superior services by giving same perks and privileges to government servants working in same capacity. Additionally, the induction of skilled and competent people into civil services should be encouraged. Proper training courses at post- induction, mid-career and at senior management level should be given to civil servants. Career progression and promotion should be on the base of performance. Similarly, market-based salaries and incentives should be given to curb the menace of corruption. Last but not least, Civil servants should have proper security of tenure to reduce political influence in the transfers of officials.
The writer is an Advocate
