From public administration to new public management

But with caution

It is always an uphill task to put the economy on the right path. Here in Pakistan the minister of finance is the competent authority to run the economic affairs of the country. In the last tenure of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), four finance ministers were changed in just five years but the party could not bring the country out from the eternal financial quagmire and the party witnessed a shameful defeat in the general elections ultimately. The ruling government of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had decided to hand over the finance ministry to its close confidant Ishaq Dar after coming into power. Ishaq Dar took several steps to keep the economy intact but he could not bring significant improvements. The finance minister had once managed to bring back the dollar under one hundred rupees but the arrangement was temporary as the dollar has gone to its previous position.

The incumbent government made several promises before coming into power regarding drastic reforms in the field of energy, economy and investment to make the country an Asian Tiger. Nothing notable could be achieved so far in these areas as the economy is still in a fragile condition.

When the government took the reins of the country, it announced to pursue the policy of privatisation rigorously to convert the public sector enterprises into profitable organisations. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a trench of $502 million for Pakistan last year with some conditions that Pakistan would work on four key sectors; energy, privatisation, taxation and investment to bring the economy on the right track. Pakistan accepted these conditions and assured that significant progress would be made in all before the end of 2015. The privatisation of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) seems to be in the doldrums because the trade union of PIA is in agitation mode after the killing of three of its workers.

A wave of protests spread all over the country after the news of killing came and the workers vowed to oppose privatisation tooth and nail. The prime minister said that the protesters might land in jail if they continued their protest because privatisation is the only solution left to save the national flag carrier as Rs100 million per day is given from the national exchequer to run the daily affairs of the airline. Opposition parties have also decided to give a protest call to oppose the process of privatisation as they say it is against the national interest of the country.

Ironically, the ruling party opposed the move of privatisation when it was sitting on the opposition benches and the PPP had a plan to go ahead with the process. Now, the leader of opposition Syed Khurshid Shah is often seen opposing the process ardently. Politics is being played over the issue and nothing concrete comes from the ruling and opposition parties to convert public sector enterprises into profitable companies.

The religious cum political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) is opposing the privatisation fervently and its Amir Siraj-ul-Haq has led the funerals in absentia of those PIA workers who were killed during the protest in Karachi. The provincial Amir of JI from Punjab Mian Maqsood Ahmad told DNA that the government is working on privatisation just because of pressure from the IMF.

“It happens all because of poor management by the previous governments. The PPP made numerous political appointments in PIA during its tenure and ruined the institution”, he lamented.

He said we are not against the process of making PIA a profitable airline but the government must craft a policy to safeguard the future of its thousands of employees as well. According to him, inefficient and employees with fake degrees are also working in the PIA and government must take action against them but not at the cost of efficient workers.

Khurshid Ahmed, a veteran trade union leader and the general secretary of All Pakistan Workers Confederation, told DNA that public sector enterprises (PSEs) are for the usage of the general public and the government cannot privatise them without taking the public into confidence.

“Our rulers try to imitate China in every project; be it Metro Bus service or Orange Line Train but forget that it China provides the cheapest electricity to over a billion people. They must imitate China in giving such services also”, said by Ahmed, who is also a former member of the governing body of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Geneva. He added that privatisation is not the solution to make the PSEs profitable and the government must hire efficient managers as efficiency can change the fate of PSEs in the shortest span of time.

There used to be a time when the state ran the affairs of PSEs but several changes have been made in the structures of these PSEs as the representation from private sector is seen as an essential part in such organisations. The subject of Public Administration has been replaced by New Public Management (NPM) in the modern economics which advocates more representation from the private sector in PSEs to make them more efficient and profitable. All these practices have been made all over the world by keeping in view the interests of employees and the same must be done in dealing with PIA and other PSEs of the country.