Amateurs frame PC’s touted growth strategy

Planning Commission (PC) of Pakistan has acquired the services of rank amateurs to formulate the much hyped ‘Framework for Economic Growth’. Though most of these young economic and policy consultants have foreign degrees in hand, they possess little or no job experience in the relevant field, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Profiles of these young individuals available on the Planning Commission’s website and different social networking portals indicate that most of these novice consultants completed their degrees in 2010. The public profile of Muhammad Shafqat underlines that he may be the youngest Policy Consultant in the Planning Commission; he completed his Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) from Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi in 2010. After bagging the degree, he directly landed in the Commission in November 2010 as a Policy Consultant. According to his profile, he is currently working as a sectoral aide and advisor with different public departments related to energy, science & technology (S&T) and information and communication technologies (ICT).
Similarly, Nyda Mukhtar is another unseasoned professional, who completed Masters in Economics from Duke University, USA, in 2010 and joined Planning Commission as Consultant in September 2010. However, she did not consider this lucrative position fit for her credentials and jumped to the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) merely after seven months in March 2011. Her public profile underscores that she has an erratic career path as she never stayed in a single position for even a single year.
Ahmed Jamal Pirzada is another amateur Economic Consultant, who earned BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Bath, UK, in 2010. He entered in the Planning Commission in July of the same year. He is currently reviewing the overall state of connectivity of Pakistan as part of the ‘New Growth Strategy’. He has mentioned in his public profile that he is responsible for framing appropriate market reforms aiming to encourage competition, stimulate growth and develop consensus among different stakeholders. He is also the part of the team that has backed the monetisation of perks of civil bureaucracy. Before joining the Planning Commission he had worked as an Assistant Economist at Cambridge Econometrics Limited for nearly one year during his studies.
Sana Shahid Ahmed is another Economic Consultant who joined Planning Commission in June 2010. She completed her MSc in Finance and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London. Currently, she is working on policy research and economic analysis in urban planning and development; agriculture markets and domestic commerce. In addition, this young expert is dealing with matters of governance and civil services reforms. She has also co-authored the markets chapter for the ‘New Growth Framework’ and edited the 10th Five Year Plan of Pakistan.
She has also worked as relationship manager at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, research intern International Finance Corporation (IFC) and teaching assistant at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Speaking to Pakistan Today, Planning Commission’s National Development Approach Team Leader Dr Vaqar Ahmed underscored that the Commission did not hire a single person for preparing the growth strategy. He indicated that these amateurs had voluntarily offered their services to the Planning Commission for formulating the ‘New Growth Strategy’. Most of them contacted the Commission through its web portal and blog while some were in Pakistan on holidays, he maintained.
Responding to a question, he pointed out that though the UK’s DFID had pledged seven million pounds ($11.5 million) assistance for the development of Pakistan’s growth strategy, it had not materialised as yet. He categorically denied that the commission was paying a single rupee to any of the young professionals in question. The growth strategy was developed by senior members of the Commission and these amateurs were merely interns, who were killing time in the commission, he claimed.
Planning Commission Advisor (Advocacy/ Outreach) Imran Ghaznavi also tried to dispel any impression that the Commission was offering hefty packages to the young consultants. However, he indicated that the Commission was paying proper remunerations to professionals or those who had some spark to perform. He stressed, ‘there is no need of worry; these amateurs are performing well’. The ‘Consultant’ designation was just an honourary title, he underscored, while these youngsters were working merely as research assistants. He stressed that though these individuals had no major experience under their belt, they were extremly knowledgeable and understood core issues.
A former official who spend several years in the Commission also reveals that the present leadership is doubtful of the merit of the arguments put forward by officers who have been in the organisation for so long; it perhaps wishes to introduce new blood in the system. He emphasised that the Commission is being run on an ad hoc basis. No matter how good the new growth strategy is, there is no sense of ownership in these policies, it will never work, he underlined. Both donors and amateurs will disappear in a fine mist with the change of government and the country would be preparing a new growth strategy again, he maintained.