A recent report has highlighted the slow growth rate of Pakistan versus the high growth rate of India and China. The report said that the reason for the slow growth rate was bad governance. Government is run by technocrats that are the government employees while it is regulated by the parliamentarians.
Government jobs in Pakistan were a sanctuary against political interference until Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came into power. He not only changed the rules to allow political interference but also destroyed the institution of government jobs by publicly humiliating high ranking government employees. The heads of government institutions that were not willing to follow his wrong decisions were arrested and publicly paraded in hand cuffs for public shaming. The flood gates that were opened by his actions against the government institutions have fouled the entire governance.
We have witnessed this broken system for many decades and have seen that it is damaging Pakistan. Therefore, to improve governance, the current government of Pakistan should pass laws that ensure politicians cannot interfere or remove government employees. It should also ensure that qualified persons are employed on merit through a committee of technocrats, and any vacant seat is filled by the board of governors of the company or organisation within time or strict actions and fines would be imposed against the board of governors.
Similarly, the judiciary of Pakistan should also help by ensuring that no employee of government companies or organisations is removed by political interference or without recorded and valid reasons for removal from service. The government of Pakistan also has a set of rules called “Establishment Code or Esta Code” that define the process for removal, hiring etc, which can be used as guidelines.
ENGR SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
