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Good Governance

Only fools quarrel over forms of government. What matters is intrinsic merits. The duties of the government are: they should provide for peace, security, economic self- sufficiency etc. No government could be thought good if it did not fulfill its essential duties. The common masses want three basic needs of life fulfilled—food, clothing and housing. They do not care two hoots for the form of the government. Different forms of government are the concern of the students of political science but they are all the same to an ordinary man who is engrossed from head to foot in making arrangements for his very living. Any government that governs well is acceptable. Good administration is the essential thing. A bad and unjust administration would make the people unhappy even under the best form of government.

Differentiate good from bad

The father of nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said: Our task is not yet finished and this disturbing feeling we get when we look around us. Progress has been made and we can boast of a big reservoir of scientific, technological and managerial skills. But overall pace of all round success and development miserably falls short of our expectations. Our rate of growth can’t match the rate of growth of China. We are corrupt at every level. It is a historically proven fact that corruption fades away into nothingness before good governance and good administration. Corruption is cut to the minimum possible size with the sharp scissors of good governance and good administration. Corruption retards the march of progress. Today we eat corruption, we drink corruption and we live in corruption. It has become our second nature and we take it for granted. We are totally drenched in corruption and the thick clouds of corruption have blinded our vision to differentiate good from bad. We spit wherever we like, we urinate wherever we desire, we do anything illegal and still go scot free, we murder and somebody else is hanged. It will not be wrong to say that we have not made success as it should have been made. And when we go to foreign lands we are extremely successful. What makes the difference? It is only that other countries are well governed and well administered and corruption there is negligible. So to kiss success in the true sense of the term and to give a death blow to the monster of corruption good governance and effective administration are the only way out. No short-cut, no magic wand and no miracle.

Required Effective administration

Effective administration is required almost in all spheres of life. We have plethora of departments catering to the needs of the general public but these departments do only cosmetic service and nothing substantial is done. Take one simple example. We have so many district parks maintained by the Horticultural department and huge amount is allocated to do this job. These parks look all deserted, filthy, dirty and devoid of greenery. Why so? The army of gardeners work in the houses of their bosses and leave the parks at the mercy of the elements. Strangely enough the parks located in the VIP areas are a treat to the eyes because the subordinates and the officials fear some overseeing power. In reality good governance and effective administration have been the reasons of this vast change.
Let us have a look of the overall scenario. China is our immediate neighbour. China’s per capita income is US$ 1150 per year whereas Pakistan’s is US$ 1050 per year. This simply shows China is far ahead and Pakistan has no chances to catch with it.

Education management

In the field of education also we are tagging behind. In China all children spend their impressionable period of life in schools receiving primary education and attendance at secondary level is 89%. In Pakistan only 40% of children see the face of schools for primary education and 62% reach secondary level. It does not mean that we have no infrastructure but better management is the first casualty.
In sports we stand nowhere. We can churn out high class athletes but we lack wilt power to do so If somebody excels in some field his legs are pulled. Thus we have gone sadistic in nature. Nepotism and favoritism plague our sports and our priorities are misplaced. In the game of cricket we have idols but other games and sports are pass-time for us. We promote cricket at the cost of other disciplines and our budding athletes live in penury. Cricketers roll in luxuries, stay in five star hotels but athletes have to live at the platform and bathe in the open. It all shows a great amount of bungling somewhere. In charge of various disciplines go autocrats and try to feed themselves. Bosses sit in their air- conditioned ivory towers and are misreported by the officials. This goes on.
We have municipalities and municipal corporations, we have boards after boards but maintenance of our cities and towns is praiseworthy? We have water and power authorities to make country self-sufficient in the field of electricity. Power thefts and losses are rampant. 55% revenue leakage is allowed to go unplugged. Raiding parties raid just to get hushed up money and come back and submit a report telling that everything is all right. We can get a license to kill mean a driving license, without a driving test or without even presenting ourselves physically in the Office. Unauthorized colonies mushroom and building by-laws are flouted at will. Recent happenings in Lahore and Karachi speak high of our callousness and indifference to the established laws and norms. Our cities and towns have become big slums, hells on earth. Law enforcing authorities are totally soaked in corruption.
It will not be wrong to say that we are a nation of thieves. Rich people try to evolve new techniques to evade taxes. How strange it is that we have only 38 million tax assesses even after 65 years of independence and it is not a secret that even a ‘Paanwalla’ earns taxable income. And still we want to achieve economic independence. What a joke? Even a peon of the tax department can afford to stay in a five star hotel and officials have fleet of vehicles plying the city roads. Wealth disproportionate to known sources of income does not attract any punishment or penalty or imprisonment. An invisible banner remains hanging at the entrance of every public dealing office displaying the words—give bribe to get scot free.

Everybody does understand

Pakistan produces the maximum amount of milk 4th in the world and is the sizable producer of vegetables and fruit. Non-use of latest technology and faulty management result into the wastage of 40% of the produce between the farmer and the end consumer and this incurs a loss of crores per year. Similarly our stored food-grains get damaged though we spend. Where does the major chunk of maintenance money go?
Industrialization has taken place at a good rate but we have not succeeded in diverting labour force from agriculture to industry and the result is we have acute poverty in the rural sector. Like China we have not turned population explosion to bigger economic advantages. We have failed to achieve high quality effective human capital. We lack effective management of human capital. Pakistan was the first among the developing countries to launch an official family planning program with much fanfare but our population is still increasing by about 2% each year.
To keep their vote-bank intact and to swell it our politicians are not ready to cut subsidies and wasteful spending. They think rising subsidies and tax cuts bring about development. Had it been so Pakistan would have become a developed nation long long Widespread deterioration in standards of administration results into leakage of funds earmarked for development. Lack of transparency enhances arbitrariness or misuse of power.

Politics, business and bureaucracy

Politics, business and bureaucracy is a fatal triangle. Big business gives funds to the politicians to fight elections. Businessmen approach bureaucracy to condone their misdeeds. Bureaucracy ill-advises and misadvises the politicians knowingly. These three indispensable strains of society shake hands and corruption germinates. Corruption is accepted as the sole mode of running an administration. The unholy alliance of the trinity rules. In this trinity big business houses call the shots. Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen have institutionalized corruption. Harsh realities eating into the very vitals of our society compelled government to ponder over and devise methods to make governance and administration alert and effective. Pakistan is an over-regulated but under-governed nation. We are not facing the issue of minimal governance but of effective governance. Today credibility of all our major institutions is in doubt. We must do something to check this trend. All the public dealing departments must draw up clearly the programs spelling out their types, quality and time factor to realize them. Failing departments must be brought to book if they fall to deliver. There should be transparency to minimize to the maximum swindling of public money. Each department must be accountable. A political will has to be mobilized to punish dishonest persons both in the government and in public institutions. Quick and time bound redressal of grievances should be adhered to and officials responsible for any delay must be penalized. At least one member from Residents’ Welfare Association, area wise, should be associated with all public works to keep a watch on the working of the bureaucracy. In this age of liberalization and deregulation bureaucratic controls must be done away with.
A code of conduct for politicians to ensure the purity of their public image must be adopted. A wrong-doer must not be spared. Fear of punishment must be hammered into the minds of each and everybody. We still come across such persons as openly declare—British rule was better for its good governance and effective administration. It does not mean we should invite foreigners to teach us the technique of good governance and effective administration. We have able and capable people. When Pakistanis can govern and administer foreign institutions well why can’t they repeat this performance in the country itself? We should not console ourselves declaring that malpractices are worldwide phenomena and accept them as inevitable. Through our relentless efforts we can establish high standards of governance and administration. That done Pakistan will be a superpower.

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