Punjab, KP on top in quality of governance

An assessment report released by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) on Thursday maintained that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces were on top in quality of governance.

“KP ties with Punjab for first position in quality of governance at 68 per cent; Sindh ranks second at 59 per cent and Balochistan comes last at 58 per cent in the assessment made for 2014-2015,” the report said.

The report was based on 25 governance assessment parameters (GAPs), under five pillars of governance including Rule of Law, Management of Economy, Social Indicators, Service Delivery and Administrative Effectiveness.

The comparative analysis on quality of governance across Pakistan’s provinces has been carried out by PILDAT since 2013 to highlight key areas of strengths and potential areas requiring improvement in the quality of governance.

Punjab leads in administrative effectiveness and social indicators.

The following parameters, garnering a score of more than 50%, are indicative of performance improvement from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Punjab government’s performance improved in all 25 parameters assessed

The government of Balochistan’s performance improved in 20 parameters, deteriorated in four, and remained stagnant in one parameter.

The government of Sindh’s performance improved in 20 parameters, deteriorated in 4 and remained stagnant in 1 parameter.

Punjab scored the highest in Poverty Alleviation (80.4%) and the lowest in Gender Gap (52.9%).

Balochistan garnered the highest score for devolution of powers to local governments (77.7%) and the lowest in Public Transport (41.3%).

Sindh scored the highest in Public Transport (78.3%) and the lowest in Gender Gap (38.6%).

PILDAT says the objective behind its initiative on the Assessment of the Quality of Governance is that as democracy progresses in Pakistan, public focus should now be on the performance of democracy, distinct from the process of democracy.