It is widely believed that our problems in Pakistan have less to do with lack of resources and much more with poor governance. To adapt a quote from Shakespeare, Our problems dear Gertrude (read Gilani) are not because of our stars but because we are dishonest. We squander public money, we stuff government departments which have the misfortune to be run by us with undeserving cronies, we create fiefdoms and we exhibit total contempt for regulations, merit and the public interest.
The absence of good governance has been a recurring theme in these columns. We wrote about blatant mismanagement, if not much more, in the National Logistic Cell where at least Rs. 1.8 billion were lost in investments made on stocks with financing coming from funds borrowed on commercial rates from banks and even from employees pension funds. The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly now has a veritable collection of un-actioned inquiry reports in which the responsibility has been fixed on three senior military and two civilian officers. But the scam appears to have been swept under the carpet again, with the Army saying in effect, Lay off. We will do our own enquiry if it has to be done.
The story is even worse in the case of PIA. We wrote about cronyism, overstaffing, huge losses and nepotism. When last reports come in, PIA was groaning under a debt of nearly Rs. 150 billion and accumulated losses of Rs. 80 billion. But is there any evidence that the airlines management is concerned or conscious of the need to embark upon a course correction? Quite the contrary. Digging itself even deeper into the hole, the airline announced last week a program to build and provide houses to its employees on ownership basis. Apparently, PIA wishes to slide along even faster on its downhill suicidal path.
The new star on the mismanagement horizon is Senator Waqar, our worthy Minister for Privatisation. One just has to look at the manner in which the Minister is conducting business in the Privatisation Commission to see the PPP governments contempt for good governance.
Over a period of less than one year, the PC has blown nearly Rs. 250 million on advertising. Have they been advertising Government assets for sale? Hardly. All this money has gone on a sycophantic splurge for political advantage. For a Ministry which cannot claim even one successful privatisation in the governments tenure, this waste is nothing less than criminal.
Interestingly, the Minister has recently taken great pains to assure the nation that he will not privatise loss making state owned enterprises. Lest anyone has any doubts, he specifies that he is talking about Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and PIA which are collectively bleeding the national economy to the tune of hundreds of millions every day:
Privatisation is not even possible given the petulance, immaturity and arrogance of the Minister. Sources reveal that the good Senator does not like Hafeez Sheikh, the Finance Minister, and takes great pains to declare this in the Commissions internal meetings. The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) is chaired by the Finance Minister. So the Minister for Privatisation says he does not recognise the CCOP and will not allow any meeting of the CCOP to take place as long as Hafeez Sheikh is the Finance Minister. Quite obviously, in this environment, the process of privatisation has as good prospects as those of a snowball in hell.
The corridors of the Federal Secretariat in Islamabad are buzzing with stories of Senator Waqars shenanigans. For a Ministry which is producing zero results, he is on a spending spree. After pouring Rs. 250 million down the drain on advertising, he is in the process of opening a PC office in Lahore. Hiring of officers and staff for this yet to be opened office has already been done. So millions more will start getting wasted on a recurring basis. Only last month, the Minister sent a summary to the Prime Minister seeking approval to take a 16 member team to London to make a presentation on privatisation. The PM gave travel approval for the Minister and one official. Defying the PMs orders, Senator Waqar took four officials and later directed the Privatisation Commission to pay their expenses out of PC sale proceeds, a course of action that would be blatantly illegal. Agha Waqar, reportedly the most competent consultant in the Commission declined to accompany the Minister to the absence of Prime Ministers approval. The Minister promptly fired him.
One finds it truly amazing why the majority party in the government cannot understand that bad governance is bad politics. We must privatise certain to improve efficiency. We must deliver on the promise made nearly a year ago to restructure/privatise the white elephant State Owned Enterprises which are responsible for losses of hundreds of billions of rupees every year. We must refrain from appointing incompetent individuals to leadership positions in multi billion companies like OGDC, PSM, PIA etc. We have to demonstrate a commitment to good governance and to do a course correction urgently. It may already be too late.
