Health dept audit

The audit of the Sindh health department has revealed an appallingly unsurprising mismanagement and embezzlement galore. From the use of unauthorised perks and privileges to the installation of out-of-order equipment and hiring of ghost employees, Sindh health department officials seemed to be collectively trying to commit every sin possible for a government official. This comes close on the heels of a similarly sorry audit report for the provincial education department.

Unfortunately, while Sindh is not alone in poor financial management and controls, the scale and audacity with which financial crimes are committed in the province gives cause for pause. Let us not forget that many of the areas where these problems are occurring are those which the province inherited as a result of the 18th Amendment – passed by a PPP government at the Centre and implanted by a PPP government in the province.

Corruption is one of the things that the authors of the amendment had promised it would sort out.

It is ironic that the PPP has not been able to sort out these matters in Sindh despite more than a decade of uninterrupted rule, when, despite various hiccups, Punjab and even Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have been able to improve service delivery and reduce the impression of corruption, if not corruption itself. Incidentally, both provinces have seen the parties in power change over the course of the decade, and both have had weaker coalition governments running their affairs.

With the 18th Amendment already under attack from certain quarters, it would be fair to think that the PPP would work to clean up departments under its control, if only to show that the most significant piece of legislation produced during its last tenure at the Centre was also one of the most necessary legal changes in the country’s administrative history. But then, the provincial government managed to maintain power despite facing harsh criticism for its lack of service delivery. It all boils down to the lack of accountability.