The burdens of high office

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has used a talk show aired by a private media organisation to unburden himself of the travails of high office. The interview he gave was a mix of the refreshingly candid and depressingly obtuse and evasive. However, he was open about there being no quick fixes, the plug-and-play solutions to complex problems that never make it off the drawing board. Problems are going to persist, said Mr Shah, and it will be ‘some time’ before meaningful long-term reforms are implemented.

Something of a stickler for good timekeeping, he took to turning up unannounced at 9am to the horror of the more lackadaisical in their office attendances. He appointed capable officers where he could, but admitted to having difficulty getting over the problems faced by the education department and was clearly frustrated by the role played by teachers’ unions, saying that if he tried to sack every non-performing employee, then courts and tribunals would prevent him from doing so. Political pressures he seemingly copes with, institutional ones less well.

Bureaucracy in general came in for some stick, especially in the health sector where there are 6,500 vacant doctors’ posts and there are the doctors to fill 6,000 of them. Despite having passed the relevant tests, 6,000 doctors are nowhere to be seen courtesy of an uncooperative administration. Development works, solid waste management and drainage all got an airing and none of them were susceptible to an early solution. He was evasive on the much vexed matter of who is to run the Sindh police force, something that has descended into an unseemly shambles as politicians jockey for power and law and order takes a back seat.

It was a welcome break from the usual dreary parade of talking heads and a little honesty even if hung with caveats can be stretched a long way. Transparency it was not, but it was a cautious step in that direction. Perhaps a few more chief ministers should get a grilling live on air — but maybe that is too much to hope for.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2017.

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