Shackled by populism

In their bid to cling on to power, ruling parties formulate policies which are popular rather than practical.

There are many social, political and historical obstacles to Pakistan’s progress. One of the persistent issues that holds Pakistan back is the obsession of the ruling groups, including previous military regimes, with populism, which means seeking cheap political popularity by political rhetoric. It also means fake representation of popular views, demagogy, and formulating policies that would appease and please the common folks but ultimately ruin the economy, governance and even rule of law in the country. For decades, the Pakistani ruling elite have shaped state policies more by political expediency than political realism. This has resulted in going for soft options on the most pressing economic, political and social issues.

Although populism reveals itself in everyday politics on almost every national issue, the best time to see its obnoxious display is during the announcement of national and provincial budgets. Even laymen and women in Pakistan, not to speak of scores of studies that national and international institutions have done on structural problems of Pakistan’s economy, know that sections of the society with taxable income remain untaxed.

It is a universal norm in progressive societies that all citizens with income above an established line will file tax returns and pay their dues. No modern state can function efficiently without collecting revenues, which prevent it from falling into the rentier ditch that Pakistan has fallen into. Meanwhile, the ruling elite doesn’t wish to take politically hard decisions which require that they use their own resources. Such an attitude is in stark contrast to the rhetorical position of breaking the begging bowl.

Populism is not confined to the revenue side of the budget; it is also evident in spending. Take for instance the number of spending programmes of the federal and Punjab governments. The Benazir Income Support Programme amounts roughly to Rs70 billion and is mostly funded by domestic and foreign loans. This is not the right way to reduce poverty. There are time-tested strategies of poverty reduction — investments, private entrepreneurship and the right social and economic atmosphere. This programme stands out as the best example of wastage and a cloaked mechanism of bribing clans in order to maintain clientele constituency.

The PML-N has not fared better. In the previous years, it has wasted billions on sasti roti and Ramazan packages and yellow cab schemes. This year again it has earmarked more than Rs4 billion for subsidising the purchase of cabs. In the past, influential members of society with the right bureaucratic and political contacts got subsidised cars for personal use. Leaders with vision would invest in public transport, railways, intercity bus services and subways in major cities than on yellow cabs. We should have targeted interventions to help the poor and the needy, not schemes which benefit everyone regardless of their level of income.

Most of the problems of governance, social reforms, and establishing rule of law in the country stem from avoiding hard decisions that may hit at the supportive constituencies of the electoral elite of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2011.