Being reckless with taxpayers’ money

Playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ money

It was perhaps Winston Churchill who once famously said, “There is no such thing as government funds; it is all taxpayers’ money.” This is as true today as it was when these words were spoken. A friend in Islamabad, the other day, suddenly ‘lost’ his very efficient cook at very short notice. It turned out that the fellow had been offered a ‘government job’ by a senior bureaucrat. The ‘arrangement’ was that he would serve in the bureaucrat’s residence as a domestic, while the latter would have him recruited against a vacant post in his ministry, and that he would draw his salary from the government. My friend found out later that his cook was not the only one to benefit from this convenient arrangement; three others — another cook, a helper and an odd-job man — were also working in the same household under a similar arrangement.

A bit intrigued by this bizarre episode, one tried to make some inquiries from certain relevant quarters. The results were mind-boggling. It appears that most bureaucrats — in some cadres even retired ones — benefit from such arrangements in varying degrees in almost all government offices. Domestic help is first recruited as ‘government officials’ and then ‘deputed’ to work in residences of officers. These individuals appear in the offices only once a month to draw their salaries. In certain departments and offices, this ‘facility’ is available also to officers who have since retired. There are offices in which a majority of the ‘staff’ on the roster is deputed to ‘outside’ duties. According to someone in the know, a census was once carried out to ascertain the number of Islamabad Capital Development Authority staff assigned for maintenance of a certain ministry of the government. It turned out that out of the over 100 shown on the roster, only 30 persons were present to carry out their functions. The remaining 70 were apparently deputed to work in the residences of influential officers.

In some departments, of course, the practice is more flagrant than others. It was reported in the media some time back that over 60 per cent of the police force in the metropolis was permanently engaged in either protocol duties of VIPs or in domestic service in officers’ residences. This may or may not be true, but the truism remains that wherever there is smoke there is bound to be fire. As a matter of fact, the Sindh home minister was shown in the visual media some time back averring that a large number of the police force in the province, including lady constables, could be found working as domestic help in the residences of police officers. It stands to reason that the situation in other provinces and the federal capital territory would hardly be much different.

For years, people have been watching programmes on TV channels in which experts have been holding forth on the imperative need to tighten the belt of the nation and, in general, of setting our ‘economic house’ in order. This is a laudable resolve but the question is how is the nation expected to go about it? No one, but no one, has taken the trouble to draw up a blue-print on what steps need to be taken and in what order to afford some sanctity to the disbursement of taxpayers’ money. It stands to reason that the mere drawing up of a blue-print is not enough. The implementation is what matters. And a beginning has to be made somewhere. The country has seen a proliferation of regulatory agencies and of task forces of all ilks and genres. The more the bureaucracy is expanded in this manner the more is the wastage of taxpayers’ money. What is not in evidence is a regulatory authority tasked to cut the size of the petty bureaucracy in half to eliminate the flab. And, while they are at it, to ensure that no one drawing a salary out of taxpayers’ money is slaving away in the residences of senior officers as domestic staff. If there is an entitlement of some kind, it should be brought out into the open for the whole nation to see. If this can be done at least a beginning will have been made in the right direction.

It may well be justifiably argued that the aforesaid represents just the tip of the iceberg. But a beginning has to be made. As the Chinese say, the longest journey begins with a single step. Are the powers that be in the Land of the Pure ready for that first single step? Food for thought to ponder over that!

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.