Improving governance

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears to be dissatisfied with the performance of his Cabinet colleagues and has therefore asked the Planning Ministry to come up with a plan which details performance criteria and targets - against which their performance can be evaluated. PM's action is a manifestation of result of growing realisation among the electorate that the federal and provincial governments are increasingly becoming dysfunctional and cannot timely react to issues that are erupting with alarming frequency. The only saving grace, perhaps, appears to be the Armed Forces which is apparent from the increasing reliance of the civil side on them. However, one needs to realise that even the khakis do not have solutions to all our problems. And they too, are greatly dependent on bureaucracy. Unfortunately, however, it is the woeful deterioration in the quality of civil servants we have - for a host of reasons - which lies at the root of poor governance.
We have been stressing for years that the starting point to undertake strategic reforms has to be the civil service reforms. But this argument has had no effect - just like water on duck's back. No country in the world can operate efficiently without a civil service. While civil servants provide continuity, politicians come and go with elections.
Governance is an art; it's no mathematics or perfect science. It stipulates dealings with both tangibles and intangibles. One can always quantify the tangible benefits but it is extremely difficult to do so with intangibles. Academics and consultants can come up with targets and performance. However, just like 'arm-chair' critics they would fail miserably when asked to face growing public disaffection for public dealing is a different ball game all together. General Musharraf did create the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and armed it with legal powers to go after the corrupt. But once top bureaucrats threatened to put their pens down in protest, he had to back off. Thus a leader has to be pragmatic and must realise his own shortcomings as well as his team's. Prime Minister Sharif had required his ministers to report their achievements on a quarterly or yearly basis. Did they ever do it? If they did what was PM's response. The team remains the same; there has been no cabinet shuffle.
Let us face facts for facts are always sacred. The rules of governance on business under the constitution have virtually elevated him to the position of a civilian dictator. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the strongest case in point. And, the same applies to Chief Ministers in provinces. The 18th Amendment has turned every party head into a virtual half-god. One can lose his seat if he votes according to his conscience and not what the party leader ordains. Things are terribly complex. And, the frustration of leaders is becoming increasingly apparent. CM (Punjab) Shahbaz Sharif runs his show more through bureaucrats and less through his party MPAs. There is no concept of collective cabinet responsibility - a hallmark of a parliamentary system. And our system is a mere crude replica of a presidential one. If that is what works, according to our psyche, then let us change it. But even in a presidential system the role of bureaucracy cannot be drastically curtailed. Policymaking will always require inputs from trained bureaucrats. So let us implement a report on civil reforms prepared by a committee under the chairmanship of the then governor SBP, Dr Ishrat Hussain. And, as a starting point resolve the issue of security of service, seek improvement in their training and stop treating the civil servants as personal vassals. They are meant to serve the people and not the ministers in power. Give them the freedom to differ with the ministers. However, in this electronic age bureaucracy also needs to change. Shuffling of files has to stop; and quick decisions need to be taken. Studies on issues need to be undertaken in the Planning Commission with help from technocrats. Finance Ministry's overreach must end. Growth centres need to be created. Growing dependence on multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank needs to end. Arbitrary decisions or ad hoc decisions based on knee-jerk reaction need to come to an end.
We have spent trillions on the power sector with very little to show as progress. There are no energy technocrats in the committee on energy headed by the PM himself. The Prime Minister needs to understand that Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has been seen to be bypassing the Cabinet on numerous occasions. Besides the PM needs a Deputy Prime Minister for economic policymaking. And, all economic managers need to be not only administratively but also functionally under his oversight. As it is, the Finance Minister or the Finance Ministry since the days of General Ziaul Haq, has a finger in every pie. Why do multilateral institutions work better than most governments. They too have "international bureaucrats'. Every job is advertised. And, both insiders as well as outsiders can apply and compete. Merit alone plays a role in selection. In Pakistan, files with summaries and notes are shuffled - numerous times - within the layers of a ministry (Section Officer, Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and the Secretary) and input from other relevant ministries taken unless a desire or keenness is expressed by the Prime Minister or the Minister himself - only then do they prepare a summary accordingly. Therefore, everyone wants a decision before a study. This also leads to corruption. Once the lower rung knows that the boss is making money on the side - they too `make hay while the sun shines'. Unless and until we change the way our decisions are done in an arbitrary or ad hoc manner our situation will continue to deteriorate.