Opinion

Will elections change anything?

Money and politics make a deadly combination

Inam Ul Haque February 08, 2024

The writer is a retired major general and has an interest in International Relations and Political Sociology. He can be reached at tayyarinam@hotmail.com and tweets @20_Inam

The candidate’s father wanted to field his son for the provincial legislature in today’s elections in KPK, and he proudly confided to me that he had set aside a whooping Rs16 crore (Rs160 million) for him to win. Money and politics make a deadly combination. Contributions ranging from anything upwards of Rs30 million just for the party ticket, and then the ever-increasing expense of elections, electioneering, campaigning, and feting out the voters, in whatever way feasible, costs much more than the cost of ticket in some cases. This is not a poor man’s game anymore. Election Commission has been issuing directives, instructions and whatever it pleases to order, to control the election expense and allied donations, etc. But candidates and parties do what they do, and will attend to their sweet needs…Period.

Add to this the now ubiquitous horse-trading for a berth in the Senate of Pakistan, and democracy in Pakistan would start to stink of money…mostly ill-gotten and easy money. It is no rocket science to know why the power grab is so must for parties and their candidates. With an average expense between Rs100-150 million to land a seat in the provincial assembly (national may be more expensive), the underlying and operative yearning is never to serve the constituents…it is business stupid! To recover that expense manyfold…from the provincial and national exchequer through now institutionalised mechanisms of white-collar corruption. And it all happens before our eyes, over and over.

But wait! After elections, how governments are formed? If history is any guide, elections never produce a clear and decisive party position, leaving scope and space for more horse-trading. More money will change more hands, and willy-nilly, the Establishment would get sucked in, because otherwise, the bickering feudal lords-industrialists turned politicians would never agree on nothing except corruption, much less the contours of government and parliamentary democracy. Establishment is drawn because stability is the cherished goal of this entire exercise called elections, as stability would help stabilise the economy…Pakistan’s existential lifeline.

Add to this monetary sleaze of despised proportions the protocol; the bullet-proof vehicles with flags flying; the fat pay and other remunerations; the elite networking in the assemblies; the hordes of personal staff; the long lines of constituents with their ‘not so innocent’ requests, when MNA/MPA visits his constituency; the gun totting guards in double cabins driven by drivers on steroids …the mixture is heady and toxic. Pakistan, its economy, its myriad challenges… meanwhile can wait!

And then when the government is cobbled together with smaller parties and independents changing sides, and money changing hands, and ‘some’ recovering ‘some’ expense, the hundred days countdown starts. With more ministers, ministers of state and special assistants than Pakistan can provide office space, the sluggish government machinery is further slowed down in behind-the-scenes turf wars, ego battles and outright financial blackmail. And to accommodate more loyalists, ill-intentioned attempts are made to choke an already bottlenecked government machinery. PTI in KPK had appointed ‘District Coordinators’, to act as viceroys overwatching the district machinery. Their only qualification was party loyalty, and their traits… hubris, fat egos and intoxicant usurpation of power, illegally and immorally.

And when the government cranks ahead after constant cajoling and pushes by pro-stability and pro-Pakistan powers-that-be, the ruling clique starts lamenting the ‘empty treasure’ it inherited, reversing the many initiatives of predecessors, finding nothing good in them. It wastes time and energy in rhetorical point-scoring to further befool the electorate. As the ruling elite of this ‘hard country’ generally wins the poorly voted contests through bluster, rhetoric and rigging, promising moon and things beyond their mandate, using money or outright badmashi (hooliganism). So easily a year passes without serious legislation, serious reform and serious reckoning. There are bright spots here and there, but they quickly fall into the ‘also ran’ category.

And opposition starts poking holes in the ruling coalition’s defence from day one, hour zero instead of dignified acceptance of defeat, extending a cooperative hand to run the country for greater good of greater numbers, because the moneys available to the ruling party are simply irresistible, and opposition too has election expenses to recover with some profit, possibly. The governance shifts to emotive exchanges in assemblies; in lengthy court battles for frivolous reasons; and on evening talk-shows. Media trials are usually won by the side with hefty lefafas (envelops)... rather delivery and governance on the streets and in the offices, where common folks continue to deal with ‘more of the same’.

Another year passes and discontent of the duped electorate starts to show with no fixes to the economy, no systemic reform, no improvement in services, no reigning in the rampant corruption…as corrupt cannot nab corrupt. So, hope wanes and with it the veneer of ‘being on the same page’. The idaras continue to apprise the incumbent political royalty of their abysmal performance, their inept and subpar handling of issues, that are too critical and sensitive to national well-being. On average, the hope tanks down in three to four years, since our garam masala-induced South Asian impulsiveness cannot endure more. So, the die is cast for tabdeeli (change). More money changes more hands, as election expenses past and future and some profits are yet to be made.

And then, the system comes to a grinding halt. Subsequently cranked back to life by bureaucracy — civil and military — or by another stitched-up patchwork of all and sundry, national or caretaker. And the ousted dispensation now playing the victim card lumps everything for the past 75 years and beyond at the doorstep of their Army, making this national centre of gravity, responsible for all shortcomings, incapabilities and incapacities…individually and collectively. And this escapism, like cradle songs soothes their already sleeping conscience, removes guilt and infuses energy for another round of money making.

Will this time around be any different? No. The over 50 billion spent on elections could have been put to some other good use instead of polarising an already polarised society and clearing the way for more corruption. If we cannot hold the incoming ruling clique to account under watchful mechanisms, reduce electoral term to four years, pursue the corrupt through re-invigorated NAB, check constitutional and judicial over-reach, and replace hate with national cohesion... we would continue to be prisoners of the system and the conscience.

Keep this piece some place to re-read on 8 February 2027.

Happy ‘our’ democracy. Long live Pakistan!

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2024.

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COMMENTS (2)

Saleem Akhtar Malik | 9 months ago | Reply While he criticizes the chaos and corruption embedded in Pakistani democracy General Inam Ul Haque in his opinion piece dated 8 February 2024 subconsciously misses the organized symmetry and order in a totalitarian dispensation. Money and politics make a deadly combination lambasts the writer citing the example of a dirty rich father who had set aside PKR 16 crores for his son to buy a seat in the legislature. This is not a poor man s game anymore he observes. Continuing with his tearing apart of Pakistani politics General Inam points out how electioneering is turned into a business where campaigners seek manifold returns on their investments. And what do the people get after such extravaganzas held every few years Hung parliaments The writer I am sure is aware that the hung parliaments emerge through the manipulation and wheeling and dealing by the Movers and Shakers of Pakistani politics the Keepers of the Holy Grail This dispersal and fragmentation of the electorate happens by design to prevent the creation of a stable government. This also keeps the political economy of Pakistan driven by sleaze and graft alive observes the writer. Democracy like all man-made political systems is imperfect. But when you compare it with authoritarian rule democracy is preferred by the majority of the people because it gives them a sense of participation in the affairs of the state In a democracy the decision-making process is not limited to a privileged few - junta a hereditary ruler or a totalitarian behemoth like the communist party. Democracy keeps the people united and gives them a sense of belonging when Hitler attacks their country- they rally under a Churchill to safeguard their sovereignty accept with grace the hardships like rationing of food and fuel and don t feel deprived like the citizens of the erstwhile Soviet Union when there are chronic shortages of these items. Democracy is like a child who stumbles initially but ultimately learns how to stand on his feet and walk. Democracy in the West took four centuries to mature. During the Middle Ages 500 to 1400-1500BCE the British monarchs even as the rest of the European monarchs were absolute rulers who believed in the Divine Right of the Kings . This era ended with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Middle Ages were followed by the Age of Discovery 14th to 17th Century . Charles I was King of England Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Like his peers Charles also believed that to make laws was his sole right and to oppose him was a sin against God. He genuinely believed that a dictatorship was the only effective form of government. The English Civil War resulted in Charles I s execution and the rejection by the parliament of the divine right of the King to rule and legislate.

Saleem Akhtar Malik | 9 months ago | Reply Continuing with his tearing apart of Pakistani politics General Inam points out how electioneering is turned into a business where campaigners seek manifold returns on their investments. And what do the people get after such extravaganzas held every few years Hung parliaments The writer I am sure is aware that the hung parliaments emerge through the manipulation and wheeling and dealing by the Movers and Shakers of Pakistani politics the Keepers of the Holy Grail This dispersal and fragmentation of the electorate happens by design to prevent the creation of a stable government. This also keeps the political economy of Pakistan driven by sleaze and graft alive observes the writer. Democracy like all man-made political systems is imperfect. But when you compare it with authoritarian rule democracy is preferred by the majority of the people because it gives them a sense of participation in the affairs of the state In a democracy the decision-making process is not limited to a privileged few - junta a hereditary ruler or a totalitarian behemoth like the communist party. Democracy keeps the people united and gives them a sense of belonging when Hitler attacks their country- they rally under a Churchill to safeguard their sovereignty accept with grace the hardships like rationing of food and fuel and don t feel deprived like the citizens of the erstwhile Soviet Union when there are chronic shortages of these items. Democracy is like a child who stumbles initially but ultimately learns how to stand on his feet and walk. Democracy in the West took four centuries to mature. During the Middle Ages 500 to 1400-1500BCE the British monarchs even as the rest of the European monarchs were absolute rulers who believed in the Divine Right of the Kings . This era ended with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Middle Ages were followed by the Age of Discovery 14th to 17th Century. Charles I was King of England Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Like his peers Charles also believed that to make laws was his sole right and to oppose him was a sin against God. He genuinely believed that a dictatorship was the only effective form of government. The English Civil War 1642 1651 pitted the supporters of King Charles I and later his son and successor Charles II against the supporters of Parliament. Its outcome was threefold the trial and execution of Charles I the exile of Charles II and the replacement of the English monarchy with at first the Commonwealth of England 1649 53 and then the Protectorate 1653 59 under Oliver Cromwell s rule. The English Civil War resulted in the rejection by the parliament of the divine right of the King to rule and legislate. The French Revolution 1789-1799 was a period of political financial and social turmoil in France that led in May 1789 to the formation of a National Assembly in June 1789. The Storming of the Bastille fort in Paris on 14 July led to a series of radical measures by the Assembly among them the abolition of feudalism state control over the Catholic Church and a declaration of Rights. The next three years were dominated by the struggle for political control exacerbated by economic depression. Military defeats following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in April 1792 resulted in the Insurrection of 10 August 1772. The monarchy was abolished and replaced by the French First Republic in September while Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. In the final analysis democracy takes a long time to take root. And it doesn t come cheap.

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