- PM keen on resolving key issues, but power-centralisation a threat
Conscious of his election promise of bringing about a visible change in the country’s direction in his first hundred days, the fast-lane PTI leader is belatedly discovering the constitutional limitations in wielding prime ministerial power and his inter-dependence on parliament, superior judiciary and bureaucracy for fulfillment of his goals. Red tape as practiced by a vast, highly politicised bureaucracy still trapped in the colonial era’s ‘white sahib’ mindset, rather than being true public servants, doers and achievers, presents a big obstacle to any ambitious plans and policies. The trail of debt and administrative debris left by gross misrule of the past two decades is also a formidable challenge to a potential reformer. In his quest for swift change in the country’s socio-economic fabric, Imran Khan has summoned rapid-fire cabinet meetings, an essential parliamentary practice callously neglected by the past regime. Another ‘first’ for the PM was the quickly-called caucus on Monday of the inter-provincial Council of Common Interests, which deliberated on a host of critical issues, being an institution of utmost importance for national harmony, which had also been condemned to the wilderness.
But in his haste to rectify all things gone awry, the PM is in grave danger of having too much on his plate, of taking on an avalanche of responsibility that might be counter-productive in the accomplishment of his designs. As if the prime ministerial workload was not enough in itself, he has also retained the all-important, under the country’s present circumstances, ministry of interior, while roundly condemning his predecessor for not appointing a foreign minister for four years thereby damaging Pakistan’s diplomatic relations. The latest revelation, in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources, about placing the Water and Power Development Authority, which is responsible for the country’s water resources, generation of hydroelectric power, preventing water shortages, limiting drought and enhancing water storage, all crucial issues of paramount importance, under the already over-burdened PM’s direct control, smacks of an immense and practically unmanageable concentration of power and that too in a federal, parliamentary system of government. Delegation and devolution should be the watchwords, outright rejection of fawning ill-advice of the WAPDA variation, the motto.
