Ideas are contagious. In 2013, the Islamabad-based think tank PRIME decided to track the election promises of the then ruling party PML-N by launching a bi-annual manifesto tracking scorecard. Supported by the Center for International Private Enterprise, the exercise was endorsed by Asad Umar who said that it was a “constructive effort to critique government policy...this is just the kind of analysis and debate we need to improve performance of elected government to help serve the people of Pakistan better.”
Five years onward, Asad will soon find himself and his party under a similar critique, whether or not a tracking scorecard is produced by any think tank. Perhaps this realisation has forced the party to launch a website itself (http://pm100days.pmo.gov.pk) to track the progress of its 100 days agenda.
A government launching a website to track progress is not entirely new. Recall that the former boss of Planning Commission had ordered a website www.cpec.gov.pk where the P-Block was supposed to post progress update on CPEC project, a subject whose many aspects still remains shrouded in mystery. A website, therefore, does not necessarily mean transparency.
http://www.cpec.gov.pk/
For one, instead of 100-day agenda progress tracker, the PTI should move toward manifesto tracking. Second, while it is a good effort to post milestones (achieved or initiated) on the website, the planned milestones and the targeted timeline also ought to be in a government-managed progress tracking report.
Equally important for transparency is the sharing of periodic minutes of meetings at various ministries and public bodies, in addition to the sharing of relevant facts, datasets and background information relating to important policies and decisions along with a statement of the policies adopted. These and many other aspects of the public’s right to information (RTI) are already enacted in federal and provincial RTI laws. With the PTI in power in KP, Punjab and Islamabad, one expects them to walk the talk.
Also important is for the advisory councils, such as the EAC and the newly formed Council of Business Leaders (CBL), to be transparent and representative. As stressed earlier in this space, the EAC and CBL should have a website where their research and draft strategic advice is made public for wider stakeholder discussion. (See also BR Research’s ‘Can the new Economic Advisory Council deliver?’ Sep 4, 2018)
The minutes of the meetings of the EAC and CBL together with detailed comments of each member should also be made public via their websites. This would help stakeholders better assess the quality of advice of EAC/CBL members, observe the voices of dissent within the EAC/CBL, and compare their advice with the actual decision of the government. Without transparency and adequate representation, the Council of Business Leaders may well be called the Council of Business Interests. (See also ‘PTI’s Council of Business Leaders’, July 27, 2018)
The PM should also ensure that every cabinet member along with his/her key secretaries/advisor makes a monthly presentation to the press highlighting what they have done, what they are planning to do, together with the timelines, and the reasons of failure or delays. The press is smart enough to do the rest.
The bottom-line: progress tracking website alone won’t cut it. A failure to adopt a wider open government approach can lead to disillusionment that a party that surfaced to power on a popular vote on the promises of ‘anti-corruption’, and ‘transparent government’ also failed to deliver on those promises. Hopefully, PM Khan will ensure he doesn’t get to face a ‘you-too-Brutus’ moment.
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