Inept governance

It is a reasonable expectation that after four years of governing the country the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would have acquired the rudiments of wisdom when it comes to running Pakistan. Apparently not so. There are some positions within the structure of governance that are key to the functioning of a range of activities, projects and processes. One of those key posts is the Auditor General of Pakistan. By a series of missteps that almost beggars description, the constitutional position of the AGP is currently being held — or more accurately not being held — by an individual who has not been sworn in under oath by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) as outlined in Article 168 of the Constitution.

This anomalous situation arose when the erstwhile Auditor General of Pakistan relinquished his charge on 8^th April 2017, and his successor selection, a summary of which was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office — was blocked. A replacement summary could not be approved in time and we entered a constitutional limbo wherein a Grade 22 officer who is due to retire at the end of April has been asked ‘to look after’ the office of Auditor General of Pakistan. As this officer has not been sworn in he cannot perform any number of essential functions that are linked to his authority and signature.

Although this might sound like a tiresome administrative and bureaucratic detail, the situation now is that the caretaker officer is not empowered to forward annual reports to the president or parliament for debate or approval; or issue certificates of the accounts for more than 300 projects and an entire strata of governance has ground to a shuddering halt. What the political machinations may have been in the background that led to this position may have been we can but speculate, but in all likelihood they will hinge around making an appointment seen as favouring the incumbent government. The other possibility is that the Big Beasts in the Auditor General of Pakistan’s office are tussling for power between themselves. Either way it is for the Prime Minister’s Office to get behind this and restore equilibrium in the shortest of order. We await developments.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2017.

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