Some two weeks back, an advertisement from State Bank of Pakistan was published in the leading newspapers regarding job opportunities at SBP at OG-3 level (one level higher than the normal induction point). The advertisement made me happy as I was looking for a job at this esteemed organization. But when I contacted a senior economist at the SBP, my excitement and happiness turned sour as I was told that there was no need to apply for these posts and waste precious time, as the concerned head of the department had already chosen the candidates he wants to recruit.
The senior economist also briefly explained to me the performance evaluation and promotion systems of the SBP. In addition, he told me that the aforementioned advertisement of SBP seems to be mala fide, as the same posts were advertised internally and more than 20 officers were shortlisted for the interview. Those twenty includes some officers with an incredible track record at SBP, 3 of those with two outstanding reports in last 4 years and one with all outstanding reports in last 4 years. Surprisingly most of the officers interviewed were already working on similar portfolios for several years. But unfortunately, Chief Economic Advisor (PD) communicated the HR department that none of these officers is suitable to work on inflation, automobiles and energy sectors. Interestingly, CEA (PD) was also the chairman of the interview panel for the internal candidates and the panel gave more than 80 percent marks to one of the candidates. But as the CEA (PD) had already decided that he will accommodate some of his close allies, currently working on contracts at SBP against these posts, so he simply wrote a line “not suitable for this post” for every internal individual. My belief that the process for aforementioned positions is mala fide becomes even stronger once I came to know that it was the CEA (PD) who brought those contractual employees back in 2010 and 2011 with following any standard criteria for hiring at SBP.
It is the collective responsibility of Media, judiciary and executives to stop this mala fide hiring process to save the credibility of SBP and to avoid having a Pakistan Railways type SBP in 2025. We all collectively should think about the corrective measures to stop this kind of practices, before it gets too late.
A BALOCH
Quetta