LG minister blames poor performance on NAB

HYDERABAD: Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has held the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and judicial orders responsible for many of the problems marring the performance of local government institutions. "The BS-20 and BS-21 officials are reluctant to join vacant posts in the local government department because of NAB's raids and judicial orders," claimed Ghani at a press conference in Hyderabad on Sunday.

He contended that the orders of the Supreme Court-mandated Judicial Commission on Water and Sanitation have created a problem with maintaining cleanliness in Sindh's cities. The minister bewailed that since NAB was established, the bureau has been used as a tool for political victimisation.



He alleged that in the past, former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif used NAB as a tool to settle political scores. "The process continues till today even though NAB has failed to curb corruption, with its only success being changing political loyalties."

Ghani expressed surprise that while the NAB's accountability law is one of the world's most stringent, the bureau's success remained doubtful. "I won't say anything about the charges against Shahbaz Sharif [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president]. But the way he was arrested was wrong."

He accused the bureau of sullying the reputation of respectable persons by launching investigations against them against spurious complaints and later closing the case files silently. "Penalties should be imposed on the NAB's officials in such cases."

Ghani welcomed the federal government's announcement of providing a Rs50 billion development budget for Karachi and Rs20b for Hyderabad. However he was sceptical whether the promised funds would ever be released. "The centre should give funds for development for other cities of Sindh," he demanded.

The minister referred to the past PML-N government for making similar promises for Karachi and other cities of Sindh but never fulfilling them. He said that the Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan (S-III) was initially estimated to be completed at the cost of Rs18b but belated federal releases delayed the project for years and increased its cost to Rs36b.



Similarly, he added, the K-IV project under which 250 million gallons of water per day will be supplied to Karachi is also suffering the same fate. The federal share in the financing of both these projects was 50%.

"If Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) central government sincerely wants to resolve water supply and drainage issues of Karachi, it should immediately release at least 50% of the sum that it has earmarked for the projects," he suggested.

He criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for dishonouring his promises. "Many new things are going to happen in the coming days. I would like to advise the media to collect Khan's old clips of his tall claims."

He contended that the downward spiral in popularity which has befallen on the PTI due to its bad governance in less than two months in the government has been without precedent in Pakistan. "Many people who voted for PTI are today lamenting their decision." The provincial minister said the centre cannot impose a local government system of its choice over any province.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2018.