Wither Good Governance

Bol News solicits expert opinions on what is ailing Sindh and Pakistan, and the way out

KARACHI: Poor governance is said to be the mother of all evil, and many in Pakistan blame it for all the ills that inflict today’s politics, administration and economy. Against this backdrop, when it comes to issues polluting the quality of life in Sindh province, the blame is laid squarely on the shoulders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which has been ruling the province for nearly 15 years without a break.

Experts believe that the government ought to revamp the system through good governance so as to benefit the people at large, and must avoid polluted trends that seek to serve the interests of the ruling elite and the so-called big guns.

Bol News has spoken to a number of experts to find out what is ailing the politics and administration of Sindh province as well as the rest of Pakistan, and what are the ways to cure them.

Mohammad Alam Brohi

Former ambassador and analyst

Corruption and mismanagement are the main symptoms of bad governance. And its effects include the concentration of wealth, which translates into what is called the VIP-culture – or a culture which spans elite schools and hospitals, expensive housing schemes and other facilities, thereby triggering multiple crises such as poverty and deprivation among the masses.

Such societies are insecure and prone to crimes and lawlessness. The constant neglect of rural areas leads to a high rate of urbanization and competition for urban facilities in terms of living, education, and health. This also brings with it the phenomenon of street crimes.

Ever since the untimely demise of the founding father, Pakistan drifted away from his ideal of a liberal, progressive and democratic state where citizens would have equal rights irrespective of their caste, creed, colour and social status. His lieutenant, Liaquat Ali Khan, could have put the country on the right track but he was assassinated, clearing the stage for the powerful quarters, including the civil and military establishment and the power-hungry feudal lords.

We have to go back to the democratic ideals of not to be a garrison state, a theocracy or an oligarchy under an engineered system, but to be a welfare state ruled by the genuinely elected people. How to achieve this aim should be devised by a grand national congress. The sooner it is done, the better for the survival of this nation. The country is already on the edge of the precipice.

The recently held second phase of local government elections in Sindh was marred by gross administrative interference. The PPP government exploited the pliability of the district administrations to win in the megacities of Karachi and Hyderabad. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not assert its authority to ensure a transparent process of voting.

And so we have this controversy regarding the Karachi results. This situation is retrievable if the ECP shows some courage and undertakes a fresh re-tabulation of results.

Political and economic stability, transparency, confidence-inspiring accountability and judicial justice are natural consequences of the rule of law, equality before the law and meritocracy, which have been systematically slaughtered in this country.

The system of the country, especially that of Sindh, supports the elite, the feudal lords and pirs/sajjada nasheens. People are herded to vote for them. They have come to believe that their only stake in the system is to vote for the landlords. The PPP, during its first term in power (1972-1977), doled out lucrative posts to the sons and nephews of landlords in return for their political support. The same is the case across the rest of the country. Nothing that goes against the vested interests of the ruling elite is allowed to prosper.

Since 1972, Sindh has been ruled either by the PPP, or by groups brought forward and abetted by the Martial Law regimes. While the PPP believes in patron-client governance, those riding on the back of the military rulers tend to toe the military’s preferences in administering rewards and punishments.

The province is rich in resources, but its overwhelmingly large population suffers the agony of poverty and helplessness.

Tariq Banuri

Former Chairman, Higher Education Commission

Good governance requires autonomy, accountability and professionalism. None of these exist in Pakistan. Please note that “governance” is a different framework of analysis, separate from such social sciences as political science, public administration and economics. The main features of this framework are the acceptance and encouragement of autonomy, accountability and professionalism.

A well-governed society has multiple autonomous institutions, each of which takes up the responsibility for its respective domain of public service, such as administration of justice, policing and investigation, auditing, health, education, banking and finance, and so on.

But Pakistan is still stuck in a kind of feudal approach in which all legitimacy is assumed to be derived from a single person. The result is a permanent situation of corruption, incompetence, promotion of violence and intolerance, and a complete absence of professionalism.

And I don’t think this problem is restricted to Sindh. All provinces as well as the federation have shown scant regard for public interest. To put it simply, Pakistan’s governance system is not designed for public service, but for facilitating the corrupt privileges of a small minority at the top. Every single political party is equally culpable in this regard. The only policies that the governments design are either those that benefit their cronies or are demanded by external donors.

There are some examples of good governance but they were invariably accidental. In other words, good governance only lasted until someone figured out how to make money from that particular domain of work. For example, forests were managed by foresters for quite some time. But as soon as someone figured out how to subvert the forest department and take over its control for personal benefits, the quality of governance started to decline. Similarly, public sector universities were managed reasonably well, but in the 1970s, people realised that they could manipulate students and use them to get access to power and privilege. The result was a total destruction of the quality of education.

Let us be charitable, and assume that the problem is neither corruption nor incompetence or lack of political will. Rather, it is possible that the obstacle is the popularity of a ‘dead-end framework’ which does not permit people to understand their problems. Almost everyone in Pakistan believes that the real challenge is to find the right ruler, and that the right ruler will establish good governance.

Dr Samina Saeed

Chairman Political Science Department, KU

In order to improve governance in Pakistan, we need significant reforms to improve institutional quality, business environment and accountability, and also to bring all angry politicians on the same page. Though the 18th Constitutional Amendment did pave the ground for achieving the goal of good governance, these goals have only partially been met.

Successive governments have failed to enact policies, laws and decisions about public life due to bad law and order situation, especially in Sindh. The rule by feudal lords, which has continued for centuries and still continues under different garbs, has tended to deflect the attention of both the central and provincial governments away from the problems of the people. An extreme rural-urban divide has also rendered successive Sindh governments unable to enact socio-economic policies and laws in the larger interest of people.

The main stakeholders in Sindh have traditionally indulged in what may be called the ‘war for resources’. The desire for power among the competing stakeholders has created an atmosphere where no one is focused on strengthening the institutions by promoting merit and thereby establishing good governance in the province.

Same goes for the local government in Sindh province. The local government institutions are not properly functioning, partly because they are not fully aware of their role. The Sindh government is not providing sufficient funds to local bodies. Opposition parties in the province only focus on aggravating a situation. As a result, the local government in Sindh has failed to meet the World Bank’s four performance benchmarks, namely accountability, transparency, participation and inclusion.

Unfortunately, the Sindh government has done paper work on a host of indicators of good governance, such as accountability, political stability without violence, rule of law, control of corruption, government effectiveness, democratic governance, economic governance, corporate governance, environmental governance, etc. But in practice, the curse of corruption and self- centered policies have ridded the politicians of any desire to provide benefits to the people.