Good governance and Pakistan

The concept of governance is as old as human societies. All humans, regardless of organisation or political practices, aspired for the optimum utilisation of resources. A consistent quest for effective public management has given rise to the demands of good governance, though with different names and contexts. Good governance is a dynamic process of pragmatism in resource management and the practice of efficient institutional engagement that serves the cause of public welfare in the best possible manner. It is the management of public affairs in such a way that leads to sustainable, inclusive and supreme social experience. On account of variations in concepts and contexts, different countries evolved and achieved the dream of good governance on different scales.

What makes up good governance? Political stability and harmony, responsibility, transparency, accountability for all, responsiveness, participation, supremacy of law, equality, justice and fairness, mutual collaboration and consensus, optimum and equalitarian resource utilisation and efficient public service delivery build the very foundations on which edifice of good governance sits.

Good governance is a prerequisite for progress and prosperity of nations. The countries that evolved the elements of good governance have attained a distinguished place in the world’s comity. However, those that remained entangled in bad governance lag far behind in all aspects of life. Pakistan is one of them. A unanimous concordant and long sought-after dream, good governance failed to deepen roots in the country.

Pakistan has experienced many political, economic, institutional, democratic and social upheavals. Authoritarian leadership, frequent military intervention, political polarisation, bureaucratic red-tapism, constitutional crisis, dynastic political, ossified feudalism, ignorant and apolitical public, institutional clashes and power embezzlement, the culture of rampant corruption, underperforming judiciary, social stratification, geographic liabilities, superpower’s strategic rivalries, and the consistent foreign interventions have hampered the country’s quest to good governance. At the same time, these factors have also been the glaring manifestations of bad governance in the country.

Of all governance models that evolved over the ages, democracy, if pursued with sincerity, promises a fertile ground for the elements of good governance to thrive. Strengthening the institution of democratisation, apart from other necessary socio-political reforms, would therefore help feed the seeds of good governance in Pakistan. The following suggestions can be put forward as key to a charter of good governance in the country.

Strengthening democracy: Political stability and harmony; political education and active public participation; free, fair and frequent elections; culture of merit and maturity in political parties; and an established sense of public accountability would contribute to good governance in the country.

Institutional harmony and responsiveness: As constitutional bodies with defined jurisdictions, the institutional working within the assigned sphere would play a constructive role towards the prosperity of the country. Responsive and publically accountable institutions would lead to good governance.

Culture of accountability: Evolving an across-the-board accountability culture would make institutions and people answerable to the law. This, in return, would bring transparency and merit to the national affair.

Rule of law: The supremacy of law and legal equity are the keys to a just and equalitarian society. The dream of good governance would remain unrealizable without objective reforms in the administration of justice.

Efficient Public delivery: The fruits of good governance cannot be reaped unless an efficient mechanism of service delivery is evolved. Transforming bureaucracy from existing colonial to humanistic lines would help serve the purpose.

Prosperity and good governance in Pakistan would remain mirage unless a sincere and all-encompassing national overhaul is made. The scale of efforts toward good governance would therefore determine the efficiency and sincerity of the upcoming governments in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2022.

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