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Corruption in Pakistan can invite another coup
By Amir Wasim
Thursday, 18 Feb, 2010
Both the PPP and the PML-N should resist the temptation to again use the bureaucracy for short-term political ends, which undermined its functioning, the report suggests.
ISLAMABAD: The eight-year military rule of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf left behind a demoralised and inefficient bureaucracy that was used to ensure regime survival and if deteriorating civil service is not urgently repaired, public disillusionment and resentment can be used by the military to justify another spell of authoritarian rule in Pakistan, says a report issued by an international think-tank.
The research-based report of the International Crisis Group (ICG), titled Reforming Pakistans Civil Service, analyses the structure and functioning of Pakistans civil bureaucracy besides identifying critical flaws as well as measures to make it more accountable and able to provide essential public services.
There was a dramatic rise in military encroachments as retired generals were appointed to key civil posts, such as the chairmanship of the Federal Public Service Commission, the premier agency for recruitment and promotions, says the report released to media here on Wednesday.
It says: The military regimes poorly-conceived devolution of power led to further administrative confusion and the breakdown of service delivery at the district level, the key administrative unit of governance. The decision to vest revenue and law and order functions in nazims (mayors), elected indirectly and on a non-party basis, led to greater collusion between unscrupulous district officials and corrupt police.
Low salaries, insecure tenure, and obsolete accountability mechanisms have spawned widespread corruption and impunity. Recruitments, postings and promotions are increasingly made on the basis of personal contacts and political affiliation, instead of on merit.
The civil services falling standards impact mostly on the poor, with the widening social and economic divisions between the privileged and underprivileged.
With citizens increasingly affected by conflict and militancy, including millions displaced by fighting in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the governments ability to ensure law and order and provide services such as education and healthcare will be vital to winning the hearts and minds of the public, and restoring links between the citizen and the state.
Both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which heads the coalition government at the centre, and its main opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), should resist the temptation to again use the bureaucracy for short-term political ends, which undermined its functioning, the report suggests, adding: The governments inability to deliver basic services and good governance could provide an ambitious military leadership the opportunity to intervene, the report says.
Decades of mismanagement, political manipulation and corruption have rendered Pakistans civil service incapable of providing effective governance and basic public services, says the report.
Public perception is that the countrys 2.4 million civil servants are widely unresponsive and corrupt, while bureaucratic procedures are cumbersome and exploitative, says the report.
The report suggests that accountability of officials must be effective, impartial and transparent. Incentives for corruption could be reduced significantly with higher salaries and benefits, and better conditions of employment.
The civilian government, it says, should also focus on transforming the civil service into an effective, more flexible and responsive institution.
Reform should, therefore, include drastic changes to a rigid and over-centralised structure that has been unable to address local fiscal needs and underdevelopment, by delegating important administrative and financial functions to lower tiers.
It stresses the need for modernising bureaucratic rules, procedures and structures. Training programmes need to be geared towards not just producing a class of capable civil servants, but to restoring a spirit of public service.
The international community too can help to improve governance by supporting civil service reform, expanding training programmes and providing technological support and expertise to modernise methods of administration.
It suggests that the recommendations of the National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR), which was set up by the military regime in 2006 and presented a report to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in May 2008, if properly implemented could help reform the civil service.
The report further suggests implementation of the Charter of Democracy, signed between the PPP and PML-N, to set up an independent accountability commission, answerable to the National Assemblys Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
It also calls to empower federal and provincial ombudsmen to redress public grievances against bureaucratic malpractice and holding federal and provincial secretaries accountable to parliament and provincial assemblies by mandating national and provincial parliamentary committees to hold regular hearings requiring these civil servants to account for efficient use of resources as well as the organisation, management and staffing of their respective departments.
By Amir Wasim
Thursday, 18 Feb, 2010
Both the PPP and the PML-N should resist the temptation to again use the bureaucracy for short-term political ends, which undermined its functioning, the report suggests.
ISLAMABAD: The eight-year military rule of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf left behind a demoralised and inefficient bureaucracy that was used to ensure regime survival and if deteriorating civil service is not urgently repaired, public disillusionment and resentment can be used by the military to justify another spell of authoritarian rule in Pakistan, says a report issued by an international think-tank.
The research-based report of the International Crisis Group (ICG), titled Reforming Pakistans Civil Service, analyses the structure and functioning of Pakistans civil bureaucracy besides identifying critical flaws as well as measures to make it more accountable and able to provide essential public services.
There was a dramatic rise in military encroachments as retired generals were appointed to key civil posts, such as the chairmanship of the Federal Public Service Commission, the premier agency for recruitment and promotions, says the report released to media here on Wednesday.
It says: The military regimes poorly-conceived devolution of power led to further administrative confusion and the breakdown of service delivery at the district level, the key administrative unit of governance. The decision to vest revenue and law and order functions in nazims (mayors), elected indirectly and on a non-party basis, led to greater collusion between unscrupulous district officials and corrupt police.
Low salaries, insecure tenure, and obsolete accountability mechanisms have spawned widespread corruption and impunity. Recruitments, postings and promotions are increasingly made on the basis of personal contacts and political affiliation, instead of on merit.
The civil services falling standards impact mostly on the poor, with the widening social and economic divisions between the privileged and underprivileged.
With citizens increasingly affected by conflict and militancy, including millions displaced by fighting in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the governments ability to ensure law and order and provide services such as education and healthcare will be vital to winning the hearts and minds of the public, and restoring links between the citizen and the state.
Both the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which heads the coalition government at the centre, and its main opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), should resist the temptation to again use the bureaucracy for short-term political ends, which undermined its functioning, the report suggests, adding: The governments inability to deliver basic services and good governance could provide an ambitious military leadership the opportunity to intervene, the report says.
Decades of mismanagement, political manipulation and corruption have rendered Pakistans civil service incapable of providing effective governance and basic public services, says the report.
Public perception is that the countrys 2.4 million civil servants are widely unresponsive and corrupt, while bureaucratic procedures are cumbersome and exploitative, says the report.
The report suggests that accountability of officials must be effective, impartial and transparent. Incentives for corruption could be reduced significantly with higher salaries and benefits, and better conditions of employment.
The civilian government, it says, should also focus on transforming the civil service into an effective, more flexible and responsive institution.
Reform should, therefore, include drastic changes to a rigid and over-centralised structure that has been unable to address local fiscal needs and underdevelopment, by delegating important administrative and financial functions to lower tiers.
It stresses the need for modernising bureaucratic rules, procedures and structures. Training programmes need to be geared towards not just producing a class of capable civil servants, but to restoring a spirit of public service.
The international community too can help to improve governance by supporting civil service reform, expanding training programmes and providing technological support and expertise to modernise methods of administration.
It suggests that the recommendations of the National Commission on Government Reforms (NCGR), which was set up by the military regime in 2006 and presented a report to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in May 2008, if properly implemented could help reform the civil service.
The report further suggests implementation of the Charter of Democracy, signed between the PPP and PML-N, to set up an independent accountability commission, answerable to the National Assemblys Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
It also calls to empower federal and provincial ombudsmen to redress public grievances against bureaucratic malpractice and holding federal and provincial secretaries accountable to parliament and provincial assemblies by mandating national and provincial parliamentary committees to hold regular hearings requiring these civil servants to account for efficient use of resources as well as the organisation, management and staffing of their respective departments.
