Weak governance is responsible for persistent poverty and the slow human development in Pakistan, so the country needs a continuity of democratic process, strong civil society, hard economic decisions and increase in internal revenue generation which will enable the country to have democratic and effective governance at various levels. These views were expressed by Asia-Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative Director Shabbir Cheema while delivering a lecture on ‘Governance for Human Development’ organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Friday. He said, unfortunately, government efforts to improve human development had miserably failed in Pakistan, and the reasons were lack of vision at policy level, absence of competence and commitment by political and bureaucratic management, and a strong feudal culture that influences governance in the country.
Cheema was of the view that democratic governments could not survive long if they did not build and sustain trust of citizens, which was difficult to build and easy to lose in this age of information. He said though citizens’ trust in government was promoted by democratic governance, but it was not sufficient to sustain. He said positive aspect in Pakistan was that now actors from all state institutions wanted democratic processes to continue, and for the first time in its history an elected government was likely to complete its term. “Pakistan has a resilient society and only if its governance improves, the gaps between its potential and performance can be bridged. Currently, Pakistan has several opportunities for change in the form of vibrant civil society, open and free media, rise of independent judiciary, huge resource base and individual entrepreneurship that can be utilised for ensuring human development the country ,” he went on saying.
Shabbir Cheema highlighted significance and interrelations of governance with human development. He said governance crisis was evident from widespread corruption, inefficient public services, and a host of other failures. Cheema said Pakistan’s poor rating at World Governance Indicator (WGI) and Human Development Indicator (HDI) reflected that it needed to take drastic steps to improve governance and welfare of its citizens. He said weak governance in Pakistan was affecting its ability to cope with core social and development issues which were sustainable economic growth, poverty eradication, education, health, water, energy shortages and radicalisation of the society.
He said traditional governance concept comes with hierarchical bureaucratic systems which only focus on the maintenance of law and order and the provision of basic infrastructure and services. He said now broader concept of governance identifies three sets of actors, the state, civil society and the private sector, which co-produce the governance. He also shared various indicators that measure effectiveness of governance such as people’s voice and accountability, political stability, absence of violence, government’s effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption.
Cheema also said that external factors and powers had been playing a key role in Pakistan’s present situation, adding that endgame in Afghanistan would have major impact on Pakistan.
