Decision-making and Devolution

The Karachi scene is a forerunner of many things to come unless we in Pakistan get our own act together. That act is not only about the bloodshed in Karachi but a way of thinking about the realities and honesty in life. Is there an honest way in this country any more? The culture requires a step up in many ways and requires a thinking man to start initiating the hard slog that is required.
Imran Khan has set his heart on cleaning the system and there are some people in the government who are dead set on this. For that to happen the government has to cleanse itself of these ruddy people that are spoiling the culture for petty benefits. There are, unlike India, a pretty complex lot and they relish in cheating, mafia-type activity, and tout behaviour.
They are being helped by the intriguers in our society, who are unable to do anything and keep on telling tales about other people. I asked a senior eminent lawyer as to what was the former civil service up to. I was after all part of the erstwhile service and worked to get into an equation that balanced authority and power. His answer was confounding. Simply stated, the bureaucracy of whatever ilk, seeks to destabilise the government in a time period. It likes ignorance in government. It becomes servile to every new power structure that comes in and then tends to lie so that the boss is happy and contented.
The times at least looked well when Senator Raza Rabbani with the help of the other parties, was able to bring abut a consensus on the devolution that had to be carried out. That devolution would have taken decision-making to the lower levels and eventually to the grassroot levels. It had the makings of a decent policy where the provinces and their constituents would have enjoyed some degree of liberal and independent decisions on matters dear to their hearts; masters to determine their own fate.
That is not going to happen because the devolution has been left to the most incompetent hands of the bureaucracy. None of them rally believed that this thing would come through. My suggestions to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture went unnoticed and even scorned. They never thought. The ministry had Rs 15 million/year worth of projects during the last five years and these resources have been squandered away.
All that was done previously was projects given to favourites, who then served the masters with goodies in terms of lavish and luxury transport. One of my loyalists went and took up a menial job with one of the stalwarts and counted as many as 24 vehicles at his disposal. I dare say, some of them must still be there. The livestock ministry was equally unprepared and despite the lies recently perpetuated in the local newspaper that milk in the last three years had tripled (as one functionary made it, to curry favour with the new policymakers).
Every time a decision was taken, one received news about it from Birmingham, for that is where the siphoned money was supposed to go. The tragedy now is that there has been no decision on the projects that the ministry of food and agriculture were executing. The Planning Commission that approved these projects should have taken a decision on these and apprised the devolution committee as to what is required and which project should go on and which ones were better to be closed.
The hybrid seed project had a particular leader and a serious one who was blackmailed a lot but he refused to buckle under. The wheat crop maximisation project on the other hand was a disaster. The old and the new leaders were at best policemen on the beat. The 12 crores of rupees given to a person who had in 40 years done nothing for wheat wide crosses (wild relatives crossed with existing material) achieved nothing. Even the projects were wrongly approved (Musharaf's time).
In such cases, the way was to bribe the existing workers so that no one raised a voice. One of the senior persons in the research system took Rs 45,000 per month while the others were also looked after and paid graft money despite the fact that that amounted to double salary payment. In fact, research autonomy is and was abused. A drumbeater, he was chased out of the IBGE research station in Peshawar for conduct unbecoming a gentleman. A series of lawsuits followed. As Chairman, one was still trying to determine the truth but some aspects came in and ethnicity and intrigue was successful.
So those projects that were unsuccessful shall somehow find a protector but those that have public benefits would not be placed under any person and they can languish. Should I suggest to the successful but honest project leader that they should also become corrupt and look after the petty benefits of the power structure?
Some of them had support from the ministry and the dishonest lie is that these people have done nothing but twiddle their thumbs day in and day out. Pakistan can ill-afford this attitude. Had there been a requirement, the provinces should have been offered these projects. The provinces, in turn, were offered policy matters and not the substantive projects. The ministry of agriculture was under the impression that they would stay on despite their poor performance.
Talking of political interference what may I ask are the 475 cotton personnel working in the Karachi cotton institute? Is there not a watta satta between two or three ministers, one belonging to Punjab and the other two the Sindh province. Despite my best efforts, the 249 personnel in the research station in Karachi could not be removed to locations where they could work for agriculture and the country. There were conflicts of interest and they stayed put. Even in Islamabad the majority of workers is real estate dealers or petty car touts.
Those that frequently go abroad do so to do security personnel duty. Can you beat it? The Pakistani public has spent two to three crores on them and their degree of PhD and this is their commitment. Go and do a menial job abroad. One of them confessed to me that over there he was saluting his bosses while here he was being saluted. Call attention to the change in circumstances. The work here is disastrous made more so by aberrant behaviour and no ethics. Ethics and decency have been lost to greed and lust; even the political system was at odds with the economic system as resources were siphoned off.
So is physical death important and to be taken care of and not the mental death that is hitting the country? Senator Raza Rabbani is not at fault. The dangers of intrigues were always there. That is what happens when one has special secretaries in the PM's office intriguing and backbiting. When confronted he had nothing to say for he was part of a mafia and set up there for this very purpose. The tailpiece is that one of the senior[s] should be questioned on the domicile certificate and the position acquired and the position achieved through means best known to them.
Why not let the establishment secretary do his job? Or are jobs to be given to favourites? And should offices be located outside the secretariat and the formal process and be given in lieu of other considerations. Should there not be physical and mental repair in this country? It is hard and a long slog. Do you think that personnel will be available at will and that it takes as much time as to sharpen a pencil? The loss is in billions (difficult to quantify) and the human loss is even more difficult to digest. Do not spoil the party for the devolution has to go forward so that people can feel that decisions are with them.