PTI and vested interests of electables?

In his inaugural address and subsequent statements, our new PM is reiterating the need for institutional reform and doing away with the politics of patronage. The need to strengthen our institutions is undoubtedly important. If our political and economic institutions can become more ‘inclusive’ and pluralistic, that would indeed be the dawn of a new Pakistan.

Yet, whether the incoming government will be able to transcend the vested interests of the so-called electables and deliver this promise of effective institutional reforms remains a million-dollar question.

The PTI has no doubt relied on electables to come to power. The party deviated from its vocal loathing for dynastic politics when it began awarding tickets to close family members of various party leaders to contest election for seats in national and provincial assemblies.

According to a report compiled by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), 18 PTI legislators have criminal cases pending against them in various courts. Four of the eight declared billionaires in the National Assembly belong to the PTI.

Besides the billionaires, the PTI has wooed many other ‘electables’ who had the wherewithal to win elections in their respective areas. As a result, we can see many of the old faces and family names now a part of the PTI government. It will not be easy for the ‘electables’, who leveraged their socioeconomic status to secure victory in parliamentary elections, to continue supporting the PTI if it takes serious steps to erode their power.

It is interesting to note that Dr Ishrat Husain will serve as Adviser to the PM on Institutional Reforms and Austerity. An economist who has spent over two decades at the World Bank, Dr Ishrat Hussain has long been a critic of the elite capture of the Pakistani state. Back in 2000, his book The Economy of an Elitist State highlighted how Pakistan’s economic development process has predominantly benefited a small class of the elite, while most of the population remained deprived and neglected.

Being a former World Banker, Dr Ishrat Hussain did not pay enough attention to how donor-endorsed policies like structural adjustment undermined institutional development across much of the developing world, including Pakistan. Instead, he blamed the elites for rigging markets for their own advantage causing inequitable distribution of gains from economic growth. Pakistan has not been able to build effective institutions which can prevent the national elites from evading taxes, or appropriating public expenditures for their own benefit, or to deliver public goods and services through a patronage-based system.

Earlier this year, Dr Ishrat Hussain wrote another book on institutional reforms which notes how Pakistan has fallen behind its neighbouring countries over the past three decades. In this book, he focused on the pervasive institutional decay behind our volatile and inequitable growth of the last 25 years. He put forth the case for a selective and incremental approach of restructuring some key public institutions that pertain to accountability, transparency, security, economic growth and equity.

There is international consensus on the need for effective public institutions to ensure good governance. A new branch of economics, called New Institutional Economics, also emphasises the need for effective institutions which it considers vital to structure political, economic and social interactions in a manner which ensures justice and helps preserve order.

Besides tokenistic measures such as curbing foreign travel expenses, or serving only tea and biscuits in government offices, there is a need to prevent electables, including large landowners and big business backers, from hijacking the economy yet again.

Implementing meaningful institutional reforms would imply implementing progressive taxation, making the powerful more accountable and levelling the playing field which our previous institutional mechanisms had rigged to favour the elite.

Whether people like Dr Ishrat Hussain, and other professionals with similar ideas, will be able to convince and overcome the vested interests of the electables remains to be seen.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2018.

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