Public service reforms - IV

In the spirit of e-governance, and interconnectedness through the use of IT, public service officers should have a 'standardized online account.' The account should be maintained by Nadra (National Database and Registration Authority), and levels of access should be maintained, allowing access to authorized personnel only; with access to the personal workspace of the officer only accessible to him or her.
The account would serve as a ready tool to a) gain information about an officer's past assignments, specialized interest within the field he or she is working in; b) carry out official communication on matters like postings, details of assignment being designated to, correspondences; and c) allow the officer to have access to a common 'dashboard' where i) departmental information is provided on matters of common interest, ii) specialized access to documents/data given the nature of work of the officer allows such access, iii) features of face time (or video interaction), video conference, voice and verbal chatting facilities, file/documents sharing, among other, are made available to save time and forestall physical damage to files (especially wear and tear of older files), and costs related with telecommunication, travel, printing and other stationery costs.
Moreover, electronic maintenance of files would mean that the pace of work will be more likely to increase. The account will hold, in turn, files of work pertaining to the work of an officer, and can be accessed by authorized personnel real time. This would allow the opportunity for a) introducing better checks and balances, enhancing protection of information contained in the files and improving levels of accountability and efficiency. Moreover, this account system would allow the PM to access the account of any officer - other than the personal work space of the officer within that account - to gain information access to files on the work being done by a particular officer. In addition, a 'government app' should be formulated, through which this account could also be accessed, which should have access to both general working, information and services of public sector, and also to the intranet (authorized access only) where these accounts are being held, along with the associated features they have. Having said that the IT ministry should ensure placement of strong security/data protection features and safeguards against misuse of accounts by authorized and unauthorized people in any way.
The other important thing for overall public service reform, like anything else in life, is the 'physical environment' within which the public service providers work and interact. The physical architecture of public work spaces - all the places where public service providers/officers work and interact - need modernity and novelty. Moreover, there should be a sense of 'uniformity' of such spaces across the country. This would require bringing in the concept of 'administrative districts', similar to what exists for instance in Putrajaya, Malaysia, which is a dedicated space for all the offices to operate in one place.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Putrajaya, city and federal territory of Malaysia... serves as the country's administrative centre. Prior to the construction of Putrajaya, the Malaysian government offices were housed at various locations across Kuala Lumpur. With increasing traffic congestion, however, the distance between the offices began to hinder administrative processes. Consequently, the government resolved to create a new city where the scattered offices could be relocated and reassembled to form a more efficient administrative hub. The prime minister's office moved to Putrajaya in 1999. While Kuala Lumpur continued to function as Malaysia's capital... Putrajaya gradually expanded to include the Federal Court, the second royal palace, and many other administrative buildings. It was declared a federal territory in 2001. Putrajaya is managed by a corporate body that controls its development. Built on the former sites of rubber and oil palm plantations, Putrajaya was developed as a "garden city."... Putrajaya is accessible by numerous rail lines and highways and is in close proximity to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.'
Imagine the space for tourism, educational activities, among others, that will be made available if a similar administrative district is created for both the federal capital, and other provinces. At the same time, a sense of uniformity of such administrative districts will allow better budgeting, including reduced costs due to better layout and closer proximity of offices, efficiency of work, especially since officers working in one place will be familiar with physical layout and level of facilities available. Moreover, a uniform layout will also facilitate people who come for getting relief/services from those offices since all the administrative districts will be quite similar in their layout. For achieving this uniformity of design of administrative districts, it would make sense that consensus building across provinces and the federal capital is done through Council of Common Interests (CCI), while a legislation for formulating administrative districts is made by the national parliament.
Over time, these administrative districts should be rolled out for all the hundred-plus districts of Pakistan. For better functioning of officers, and their overall well-being, it may also be ensured that these administrative districts also have a) office of Nadra; b) offices of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and provincial bureau of statistics; c) a standardized market, d) open spaces and parks; e) gym and associated rest rooms for each ministry/department; and f) common dining areas.
(Concluded)
(The writer holds PhD in Economics from the University of Barcelona; he previously worked at International Monetary Fund)
He tweets@omerjaved7