Parliament has thrown down the gauntlet with the passage of the 18th amendment to our Constitution and it seems political quarters are bracing for impact of the Supreme Court verdict on the matter. One of the critical issues has been the abolition of the concurrent role of the federal government in certain legislative matters. On the political menu for quite a while now, it appears greater powers stand to be devolved to provincial governments at a time when both the extent of government machinery and the ambit of functions it performs have become unsustainable to manage.
These powers also bring new responsibilities which are expected to put pressure on core government functions such as regulation, infrastructure development, and maintenance of law and order all of which are already up a certain creek without a certain paddle. Few can doubt that Pakistan is endowed with immense resources. However, mismanagement and inefficiencies in the public sector, a dwindling revenue base, and growing demand for public services have worn them down amid political attentions directed towards internal strife and leading the fight against terrorism.
As guardian of the public trust, there is now growing consensus that our sarkaar is in need of an overhaul to get back to the business of government. The problem is largely due to an outdated policy framework that is no longer practicable in the 21st century. Mostly conceived in the colonial era when non-state actors were nascent and therefore hesitant to contribute towards economic growth, our very laws are designed to restrict the private sector and instead create monopolies for inefficient public service providers in virtually every sector. Consequently, there is very little space for our NGOs and firms to assume responsibilities for socio-economic development, sometimes paving the way for informal and irregular operations.
Despite the willingness and ability to pay for economic goods and services, it appears that public sector domination of the institutional landscape leaves little space for the private sector to supply a better quality product or service in a more efficient manner. Resultantly, the common man has no alternatives and has to contend with deteriorating services and lack of accountability of public sector providers.
In these critical times, the challenges of the 18th amendment also bring opportunities for the government to embrace a new way to do business. Presently, government institutions are engaged in performing the role of policy-maker, planner, regulator, financier and provider of a range of essential and non-essential services without a clear policy on leveraging and integrating private sector efficiencies into operations. Public sector reform is, therefore, necessary to clearly define a role and function for government, and to create an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish. It is essential that any roadmap for reform must start with three key steps.
Firstly, the government needs to invest in core functions that are best performed exclusively by the public sector. These would entail policy oriented functions such as regulation and licensing, resource allocations, and standardization. Secondly, the government needs to identify those functions that are ancillary to core government functions, but need not be carried out exclusively by the public sector. The key here is to enable private sector led service delivery by outsourcing functions such as health and education to more efficient providers. Finally, the government needs to desist from carrying out functions that it is not responsible for nor supposed to perform. These include many of the support services related to the production and consumption of economic goods and services, and asset management and maintenance. Immediate reform is required to curtail unnecessary public sector operations and to create the regulatory and fiscal space for more efficient private sector operators to fill this gap.
The luminaries in our public sector, especially at Lahores Civil Secretariat, would have done well to follow these steps. From land development and transport to waste management and meat processing, the Punjab government deserves recognition from the good people at Guinness World Records for churning out company after company in so short a time. Such experiments are costly when cheques are bouncing and such functions are easily taken care of by existing non-governmental providers.
The problem again lies rooted in the policy framework. Presently, Pakistan lacks a comprehensive national or provincial framework which involves the private sector and civil society in the provision of goods and services. In view of the present and pending financial constraints on the government, it is only possible to achieve economic growth by enabling true non-state actors to provide economic goods and services. When we can guarantee a secure investment and stable business environment, we can begin to harness opportunities and efficiencies which only the private sector can offer. Until then, the masquerade parties of the Punjab government are only going to irritate the citizens and set a bad example for others in the Federation.
The writer is a consultant on public policy and can be contacted at hghazali@gmail.com