Bilawal must live up to committments

It was a breath of fresh air to read the statement of Bilawal asking for advice on improving performance of his party

It was a breath of fresh air to read the statement of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asking for advice on improving the performance of his party. My advice to him would be to read the manifesto of his party and the commitments made to the public in the general elections of 2013 and take steps for its implementation. My second suggestion would be that he studies how the relatively newly elected Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is approaching all the different provinces, diverse ethnicities and religious groups in his country as well as key global issues like the Syrian refugee crisis. The young Pakistani politician will find that there is a lot he can learn from the life and political career of Trudeau.

The main area of focus, however, must be the implementation of the PPP’s manifesto, particularly from a human rights perspective, as it is this which will have a lasting impact on Bilawal’s political career, the people of Sindh and his party’s performance in the 2018 elections. The party’s manifesto for the 2013 elections contains a touching quote by Benazir Bhutto: “Leadership is a commitment to an idea, to a dream, and to a vision of what can be. And my dream is for my land and my people to cease fighting and to allow our children to reach their full potential regardless of sex, status, or belief.”

According to the manifesto, the PPP will “seek to bridge the gap between private and public schooling by building a National Education Standards Council for all provinces to coordinate efforts, and look to target universal primary enrolment by 2018 as guaranteed in the Constitution, along with a pool of 10,000 higher education and technical vocation scholarships every year.” What has the PPP government done to deliver on this pledge in Sindh? It’s heartening to see that the Sindh Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2013 was introduced; its implementation, however, is a different matter altogether. The PPP also committed in its manifesto that it will further consolidate the Lady Health Workers (LHW) Programme. Health workers and immunisation were of immense importance for moving towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and now the Sustainable Development Goals. However, these important areas were not visible on the agendas of political parties in the 2013 elections other than that of the PPP and the PTI. The question is what has the PPP government done to deliver on these commitments?

The PPP committed to bringing about a revolution in healthcare by strengthening three formative programmes: the LHW Programme, the Mother and Child Health Programme and Expanded Programme of Immunisation. It promised to cut maternal and infant mortality rates by 60 per cent, and increase the coverage of LHWs to 100 per cent of the rural areas and urban slums. However, few steps were taken to strengthen these programmes and allocate resources to them. Following the 18^th Amendment, the LHW Programme was devolved to the provinces and the then PPP federal government issued stringent rules for regularising LHWs, which resulted in a decrease in the number of LHWs, instead of an increase. The Sindh government must immediately focus on resolving all issues faced by LHWs following their regularisation and increase their numbers to cover all areas as per the commitment made in the manifesto. Similarly, the number of community midwives must be increased to ensure that every mother has access to a trained birth attendant at the time of delivery.

The PPP committed in its manifesto to introduce nutritional supplements for children, adolescent girls and pregnant women; deploy mobile preventive health care teams to reach universal coverage targets, especially households identified in the poverty survey and ensure that 100 per cent of infants and children below the age of five were vaccinated. It committed to procuring WHO-certified vaccines at competitive rates; bringing equity in service delivery with greater spending on marginalised areas and to eradicating polio by 2015. The PPP government in Sindh introduced the Sindh Inter-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy in 2013 to respond to most of the nutrition-related commitments mentioned above. However, implementation of the strategy is a key challenge — evident from the deaths of children in Tharparkar. Bilawal should immediately ask the relevant authorities for a report on the implementation of the Sindh Inter Sectoral Nutrition Strategy in the province and the budgetary allocation made for nutrition and other relevant interventions.

Similarly, the PPP government introduced the Sindh Child Protection Authority Act of 2011 and the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act — excellent steps for ensuring the protection of children in Sindh. There is, however, a need to ensure implementation of these laws, particularly the former. This Act requires budgetary allocations so that child protection units can be set up in all districts of Sindh, raise awareness, train staff and coordinate effectively.

The PPP manifesto committed that “we’ll invest in police, counterterrorism forces and law enforcement units. Citizens Police Liaison Committees will be introduced in every major urban center.” The prosperity of any society depends on the law and order situation. Police reforms could be a key strategy in this regard. However, there is a silence on the subject despite the civil society initiating a move with the support of the Sindh government where a Sindh Police Bill was drafted to bring the province out of the clutches of colonial police laws. The PPP co-chairperson should lead the initiative for genuine police reforms in the province.

The above are just a few recommendations. I hope a thorough review of the party manifesto will give the young leader more ideas on how to take effective steps in improving the lot of his constituents and increasing the popularity of his party before the next general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2016.

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