Due process for better governance

Politicians don’t want to build due process because of both laziness and lack of work experience

For too long we have had arbitrary governments run by elected rajas, who personalised governance without due process, record-keeping or transparency. cor. They dislike it as it limits freedom of action and leaves a paper trail.

The civil service which was the keeper of due process has been beaten into submission (through transfers and an incentive mechanism of invisible perks) to ignore it. No longer are meetings properly conducted, nor are minutes fully kept and the technical requirements, especially for financial flows, are often ignored.

With due process, many of our expensive projects may not have taken place and saved us billions. We might have devised alternatives to the expensive metros. A balanced and well-investigated policy through research and debate would have allowed us to build better education and energy with far less money than we have spent.

However, the incoming government can work towards building up due process by establishing modern norms of government. Due process will begin with a working cabinet and parliament. Past governments have used both as inconveniences that are occasionally woken up only for show.

In the coming government, the cabinet must meet every week with proper well-prepared agendas and supported documents that are according to rules submitted at least two weeks before the meeting. All cabinet documents must be well-prepared and commented on by the required ministries. Nothing should come to the cabinet without comments from other ministries.

All economic proposals must be in conformity with the budget. The budget is a law and it must be respected. If there is a spend proposal such as buying fertilizer, it should be shown where it will be funded from. Will it break a budget ceiling? Will it require a reallocation? In either case the matter must go to parliament. If this is done, agencies will plan and budget more carefully.

The Economic Coordination Committee must be discontinued. It does not coordinate but merely destroys the budget by constantly spending outside the budget law. Let it all come to the cabinet.

There should be a few standard items in each cabinet. First there should be a presentation on the economy made in rotation (one in each meeting) by three ministries, Finance, Planning and Commerce and the State Bank of Pakistan. You need differing views and they must all emphasise their perspectives and vantage points. They should all choose their own themes — fiscal, monetary, inflation, growth, development and more—and their own issues for discussion.

Second, a roster should be set for each ministry to make a presentation at least once a quarter to report on the state of its sector. The report should tell you the goals for the sector they are managing, plans for meeting those goals, policies and most importantly reforms that are in play or considered. This progress report in each sector must come to the cabinet for each ministry or agency once every quarter.

Third, key public-sector enterprises should also be made to present their reports on their work goals and efforts to achieve profitability, provide public service and build the economy. Fourth, for open government, following cabinet review substantial versions of these reports should be made public. There should even be a maximum lag after which cabinet minutes should be published.

Finally, a rolling agenda for the cabinet should be maintained and published every six months so that the staff concerned have adequate time to research and prepare, and people know how their government is working. These are elementary rules of management that we used to follow. By doing this governance will improve and corruption will remain in check.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2018.

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