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Bad
governance in Punjab
By Aziz-ud-din Ahmad | Published: May 21, 2009
Punjab under Chief Minister
Shahbaz Sharif has turned into a province with one-man rule. Instead
of strengthening the institutions on which democracy depends, the
peculiar style of governance is in fact weakening them.
The Cabinet system is the foremost casualty. With a hyperactive
chief minister, there is no teamwork which is needed in democracy.
The Cabinet has been intentionally kept incomplete and little
interest has been displayed in holding its meetings. Despite being
in office for more than a year the chief minister has not felt the
need to appoint ministers to run the key education and health
ministries that need whole time attention.
It was decided at the beginning of the tenure to hold Cabinet
meetings twice a month. Not even a dozen meetings have been held
during the last thirteen months. Mian Shahbaz Sharif prefers to rule
the province directly through chosen civil servants. He interacts
with the secretaries of various ministries who often submit
summaries to him bypassing the ministers concerned.
It is not possible to run the province efficiently without a
dedicated, professional and apolitical bureaucracy. Three massive
transfers of civil servants, often referred to as bureaucratic
Tsunamis, have taken place since the formation of the present
government. These have had a demoralising impact on the officers
cadre.
There was an overhaul of the administrative structure from top to
bottom soon after the government assumed office in March 2008. This
was reversed when the Governor's Rule was established on February
25. Subsequently, on being restored on March 31, Mian Shahbaz
ordered another big purge. While mass transfers of government
officers have taken place at the centre and other provinces also, a
similar exercise in Punjab belies the claims of better governance in
the province.
As was the case under the Q-League administration, the idea behind
the transfers was to place compliant officers willing to carry out
the top boss' orders without any question. Anybody considered to be
capable of demurring in matters of policy making was shunted out.
What was required was loyalty rather than competence.
Forgotten was the advice that Mr Jinnah gave way back in March 1948
while addressing bureaucrats in Chittagong: "You are not concerned
with this political (party) or that political party. That is not
your business....The government in power for the time being must
also realise and understand that you are not to be used for this or
that party."
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