From caretaker to change-agent

The accidental prime minister transitioning from being a short-term safe pair of hands to something of more substance

The accidental prime minister has his hands full, and is quickly transitioning from being a short-term safe pair of hands to something of more substance. In his earliest days he has got on with essential housekeeping — creating a ministry of energy with a merger of petroleum and power, bringing textiles and commerce together and perhaps most importantly creating a ministry for water resources. As well as water there are three other areas where the preparatory work is completed and change can be effected — tax policy and trade facilitation, privatisation and the long-overdue reform of the bureaucracy.

All of these areas have been priorities for the PML-N since it came to power but other preoccupations in the last two years have created something of a state of suspended animation in all four. There is no need for yet another cohort of consultants to trail through, that work is done and reports are already submitted, roads forward mapped and the starting gun sits on a table awaiting a pull of the trigger. It is unlikely that all these tasks are going to be completed before the next election, and of the four the reform of the bureaucracy is the most susceptible to early intervention. The National Commission for Government Reforms has completed consultations — over a period of almost ten years — and an action plan is prepared and ready to implement.

Paradoxically the ousting of Nawaz Sharif has created an opportunity for change and reform. The Sharif government had become increasingly consumed with firefighting the Panama Papers affair, and the business of government business, to say nothing of the withering of parliament as an agent of change — had been atrophying for months. Where any threat — to the Sharif dynasty — could lie is in PM Abbasi demonstrating the competencies that may see him gain both popularity and traction, despite Nawaz Sharif’s nomination of Shahbaz as the party’s president in future. He has less than a year to prove that change in these four key areas is not only possible but capably achieved. It will be neither painless nor bloodless and there will be resistance on a range of fronts but it is an unparalleled opportunity. Have at it.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2017.

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