The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf seems to be leaning a little too heavily on the explanation that bureaucratic inertia or inefficiency is responsible for its perceived inability to go at its heavy reform luggage with hammer and tongs. Though there is a grain of truth to the party’s contention about the lingering impediments it faces but surely by now one would have expected the PTI to have figured out how to glide past the tangled web, instead of weaving more cobwebs. It is true that more experienced parties have often been humbled by the bureaucracy in the past. Many a time they were made to run around in circles but that was then and now is now. As inconvenient as it may sound, the PTI cannot use bureaucratic ritualism to cloak its own shortcomings. Neither should it feel intimidated in any way or get bogged down by the bureaucracy.
If anything, it is the bureaucracy that has been feeling the heat fuelled in no small measure by the raft of postings and transfers of officers ordered by PTI leaders sitting at the head of different ministries. If the government’s plans have been stymied or slowed down it would be fairer still if a quick round of honest appraisal is undertaken for everyone’s benefit. Such an exercise will certainly bring it nearer a solution to the current logjam.
It would help enormously if the PTI abandoned its obsession for repairing things that are not broken. As with the bureaucracy the party would do well to understand that it is not always wise to replace experienced officers familiar with the working and procedures of a ministry with less experienced officers who are not, especially when one is in haste to deliver the change that so many people want. Such exuberance for change is welcome but not at the cost of clogging the system. Here’s another instance of the government going overboard.
There is no denying the fact that overall Pakistan needs urgent civil service reform to re-introduce a higher degree of morality and ensure a greater sense of objectivity and neutrality in government functionaries. These are goals worth fighting for. Do we have any spine for it?
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2018.
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