ISLAMABAD – Discontinuity in government policies was a major reason for the lack of economic progress, President Asif Zardari said on Saturday. Addressing a gathering at the 94th National Management course, the president said as public servants belonging to various groups, they had an important role to play in the formulation and implementation of public policies.
The president said the private sector must take the ownership of policies regardless of which political government introduced them. “While remaining aloof of politics as civil servants, you should also understand the dynamics of politics,” Zardari said. He called upon the participants to use information readily available on the Internet.
“Gather it, absorb it and synthesise it to find new paths and ways in public policies’ formulations,” he added. “As civil servants, you are part of the permanent state structure. The National School of Public Policy is a leading institution of the country. It is playing an important role in producing quality human resource,” Zardari said.
“There is a general complaint that the civil bureaucracy is no longer what it used to be. You should reflect on such observations and analyse the reasons for it. Is it because of a sense of insecurity? Or is it because of centralisation of authority in the hands of a few? Or is it due to witch hunting in the name of accountability?” he said.
The president said a major reason for it was the absence of continuity of policies. “Take the case of the present energy crisis. The crisis has arisen because of the reversal of the energy policies of the mid 90s. If the energy policy of the time had not been reversed we would have had an energy surplus in the country,” he said.
Zardari said the public-private partnership was the best model for economic development. “As civil servants, it is your responsibility to implement the decisions with sincerity and speed,” he added. “Workers have been made shareholders in state-run enterprises by the PPP-led government. The government has tried to address the political issues through the restoration of the democratic constitution of 1973 and the 7th NFC Award,” he said.
“The government took difficult and unpopular decisions to put the economy back on track. As a result the economy has stabilised, the rural economy has been strengthened as never before.” The president said “The foreign reserves have increased to over $17 billion. A record foreign remittances which were $6.4 billion when the government took over will cross the $11 billion mark this year, again a record.”
“We believe in giving incentives to people to improve the economy.” He said exports this year were expected to cross $24 billion. “It is the war against terrorism, and the unprecedented floods last year that caused a loss of over $10 billion.”
