EDITORIAL: With Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif taking his oath of office on Sunday, we can finally hope for some forward movement on the addressing of the numerous pressing issues facing the nation. It is clear that the precarious economic situation, a highly polarised polity and the rising terror threat, along with a myriad of other challenges are set to test the new coalition government.
The prime minister’s victory speech in parliament did strike the right chord when he extended an olive branch to the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf), inviting the party to join hands in steering the country out of the umpteen problems it faces. His attempt at providing a healing touch to a fragmented electorate was
further augmented by his promise that his government would seek to work with all four provinces and would keep them on board while making major decisions. He also touched upon vital issues related to the economy, energy sector reforms, performance of state-owned enterprises and eradication of militancy, indicating that he does realise the multifaceted nature of the task ahead.
There is no denying that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government faces some formidable obstacles as commitments with international lenders have bound to take some tough decisions, the real challenge would be for the prime minister to not buckle under pressure at the first sign of discontent among his coalition partners, and at the same time, provide the leadership required to keep them on board with the necessary reforms needed to steer the economy out of choppy waters.
Being part of a coalition government – whose members may have varying interests and priorities – must not be used as an excuse to shy away from the far-reaching transformations that various sectors of the economy require. Here, our ruling elite must realise that it cannot expect the Pakistani public to continue to make all the sacrifices required to navigate through these turbulent economic times. The ruling class needs to step up and bear the brunt of the tough choices it will need to make before expecting a populace already crushed by poverty and inflation to take on an even bigger share of the economic burden.
Our ruling elite has a history of devising ways to avoid shouldering its share of the economic load, with a pertinent example being Section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance introduced under the Finance Act 2022, which levies a tax on ownership of immovable properties. This piece of legislation conveniently provides exemptions on land allotted by the government to the state functionaries. This highlights just how protective the ruling class is of its financial interests, with it having little compunction about expecting the general public to bear the full force of the tax measure. We cannot afford to continue with a state of affairs that allows for the existence of holy cows.
The new rulers must also realise the imperative of a significant reduction in its current expenditure that would amongst other measures require reducing the size of government. The people will soon be able to judge their seriousness in resolving the economic crisis when the composition and size of the federal cabinet become apparent. Not only is it essential that induction into the cabinet is based on merit and competence alone, its size will also provide us with a clear indicator of whether the prime minister is more concerned with keeping his coalition partners happy with ministerial positions or if he remains hamstrung to follow past precedent where compulsions of running a coalition government overrode more serious concerns related to good governance and sound economic management.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024