Power secretary’s exit

In all fairness, the secretary was only given a short period of time to take major decisions on high stakes projects

The Power Division is experiencing some technical issues with temporary shutdowns and delays, emulating the shoddy power operations they run nationwide. Power Secretary Yousaf Khokar has gone on leave lasting the duration of the PML-N’s remaining tenure. Whether he willfully left or was forced to take leave is debatable. His predecessor was removed amid similar circumstances and Khokar, too, had his share of disagreements with Power Minister Awais Leghari over policy in that some moves were questioned by the former. Dissent has rarely been acceptable by any government, and the pattern is usually to sack those voicing opposing opinions. The PML-N seems quite fragile internally as pressure mounts over its handling of the power sector in the last five years, about which it made lofty promises before the last elections.

In all fairness, the secretary was only given a short period of time to take major decisions on several high stakes projects including K-Electric, the Jamshoro plant, several LNG-based power projects, and smart metering. However, the power tussles between the bureaucracy and political posts certainly detracted time and resources away from sound assessment of the imminent decisions to be made. Part of the problem is haphazard planning and undertaking multiple projects at once, rather than sequential investments, but that again points back to how the leadership operates.

It is delicate times for the PML-N as it placed 10 secretaries on leave in a span of a few days. Whether it is a deflection of responsibility or intentional delay, the move elucidates weak interests in solving the power crisis. To exit amidst a looming crisis means one is not willing to take on a leadership role and selfishly abandons all duties without concern about a potential crash. The onus falls on both, the secretary and the minister of power because with citizens observing the fast during the present heatwave and chronic water shortage, they could not arrive at a decision and abandoned the people.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2018.

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