The Punjab government has been declared as the best with regard to good governance and transparency during the last three years, with the KPK government second, Balochistan third, and Sindh fourth.
PILDAT while analyzing the quality of good governance of provincial governments during the last three years has issued its third provincial score card. The prominent institution PILDAT has been issuing its analysis report on the prospects of strengthening and improving provincial governance since 2013.
Through these score cards, the governance of provincial governments can be judged. The analysis report of PILDAT comprises 25 analysis indicators including rule of law, economic managing, social indicators, service delivery, and affective administration. Punjab has been declared the best province throughout the country with regard to rule of law, economic management, and service delivery. In the provincial score card, Punjab has obtained more than sixty percent score in 22 departments and is moving towards further betterment, while KPK has improved only in 13, Sindh in 11, and Balochistan in 10.
Accordion to the provincial score card, Punjab is at the top of the list and acquired 79.4% score with regard to transparency.
Punjab bags highest scores in rule of law, management of economy and service delivery, while KP leads in social indicators and administrative effectiveness
Punjab had the highest scores of all the Provinces in 11 out of 25 parameters, while Balochistan had the highest scores of all the Provinces in 7 parameters, KP in 6 parameters, and Sindh in only one parameter.
Punjab leads the way in the use of technology for better governance with a score of 74.1%, way ahead of the other three provinces
Governance scores in Punjab and KP deteriorated in 1 parameter each, while governance scores in Balochistan and Sindh deteriorated in 3 parameters each compared to 2014-2015. Additionally, one parameter in Sindh recorded no change in governance.
Highest and lowest scored governance assessment parameters for each province during the third year of governance (2015-2016) are below:
- Punjab scored the highest in transparency (79.4%) and the lowest in management of population growth (47.8%)
- KP scored the highest in devolution of powers to local governments (86.9%) and the lowest in public transport (40.9%)
- Balochistan scored the highest in anti-corruption (73.8%) and the lowest in poverty alleviation (38.8%)
- Sindh scored the highest in merit-based recruitments (85.6%) and the lowest in investment friendliness (40.0%)
The quality of governance in Pakistan’s provinces is, in general, improving, according to PILDAT’s comparative provincial score cards on quality of governance in the third year, 2015-2016.
Punjab leads with a score of 65.5%, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with a score of 63.0%, Balochistan with a score of 60.5%, and Sindh at 59.7% at the end of the third financial year of the elected provincial governments since 2013.
PILDAT’s score cards assessing the quality of governance are based on the change (marginal improvement, significant improvement, deterioration, or no-change) in the quality of governance between the second (2014-2015) and the third (2015-2016) years of governance in the provinces. The assessment is based on 25 governance parameters under 5 pillars of governance including rule of law, management of economy, social indicators, service delivery, and administrative effectiveness. Parameters garnering a score of 60% and above are indicative of a significant improvement in governance from 2014-2015 to 2015-2016.
Punjab and KP have received positive scores (i.e., above 50%) in all but one parameter each, while Balochistan has received positive scores in 22 out of 25 governance parameters. Sindh, consistently the last ranking province in quality of governance for the last 3 years, received positive scores in 21 out of 25 parameters.
Punjab is the highest scorer among all provinces in transparency at 79.4%, while KP leads in devolution of powers to local governments at 86.9%. For the second year in a row, gender equality in Punjab and KP is among the lowest scoring parameters, at 54.7% in Punjab and 54.4% in KP.
Balochistan leads among all the provinces in anti-corruption with the highest score of 73.8% owing to the improved performance of the anti-corruption establishment in recovering embezzled funds and increasing convictions. Balochistan’s lowest governance score was recorded in poverty alleviation (38.8%), while Sindh garnered the second highest score among all provinces in this area at 74.4%. Governance in Sindh with regards to investment friendliness was recorded at its weakest with 40.0% score.
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. The rationale behind PILDAT’s initiative on assessment of the quality of governance is that as democracy progresses in Pakistan, the public’s focus should be on the performance of democracy, which is distinct from the process of democracy. Through this score card, PILDAT seeks to understand the extent to which the democratic governments have delivered to their citizens in terms of providing ‘good governance’. The initiative is by no means an exercise to criticize the performance of the elected governments but is carried out as a collaborative effort through data received from governments to enable informed and fact-based assessments regarding the quality of governance across provinces.
Methodology Outline
In a continuation of the previous assessments, PILDAT’s indigenously developed scoring mechanism assigns on a scale of 1-5, based on the comparative performance of all provincial governments. A government gets a score above 3 for a particular indicator if percentage change from financial year (i.e. July 1 to June 30) 2014-2015 to financial year 2015-2016 is more than the average percentage change across all provinces. A lower score is assigned for the inverse. The scores are based on both policy (25% weightage) and its implementation (75% weightage) across 25 areas of governance.
The data for the provincial score cards was requested by PILDAT and was provided by the provincial governments. It was supplemented with published data. Several meetings were held with each government’s various departments during the process of this assessment. A draft of the analysis and score card was also shared with each government for feedback before final release.
