Call for governance reforms

The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Sunday proposed modernisation and overhauling of the governance system and highlighted Pakistan's governance bottlenecks for sustainable economic development.

A new report titled Modernizing Governance: Challenges and Solutions in Pakistan's Rules of Business and Secretariat Instructions, authored by Dr Nadeemul Haque, Vice Chancellor of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Professor Nadeem Ahmed Khan, Dr Khurram Ellahi Khan and Professor Hassan Rasool, has been released by PIDE highlighting key inefficiencies within Pakistan's government framework, said a release.

This report comprehensively addresses the challenges and provides actionable solutions to improve governance and modernise the country's administrative structures, using best practices from global governance models.

The report reveals that while Pakistan's Rules of Business 1973 and Secretariat Instructions are the backbone of federal governance, they have not sufficiently evolved to meet modern administrative needs. For instance, over 80% of federal processes still rely on outdated, manual systems, significantly delaying decision-making and policy implementation and centralised approval mechanisms alone account for up to 60% of these delays, creating bottlenecks across ministries.

Furthermore, the report shows that more than 50% of all federal decisions are delayed due to excessive bureaucracy, with less than 10% of officials held accountable for inefficiencies.

The report also highlights inefficiencies in inter-divisional consultation, noting that over 70% of inter-ministerial communications face delays due to centralised control and ineffective processes. These challenges have resulted in a slow and unresponsive governance system that lacks the accountability necessary for effective administration.

In response, the report proposes several reforms aligned with global benchmarks, showing that countries modernising their public administration have seen efficiency increases of up to 40%. These recommendations include streamlining government systems, with the potential to reduce delays by 50-60%, and organisational restructuring, which could shorten decision-making times by up to 30%.

The report also advocates enforcing accountability measures, with penalties for noncompliance potentially improving operational efficiency by at least 20%. Additionally, adopting New Public Management (NPM) and Post-NPM models could align Pakistan's governance practices with international standards, achieving governance improvements similar to countries that have seen a 40-50% increase in performance after reforms.

The urgency for reform is clear. Without modernisation, Pakistan risks continued inefficiencies and a lack of accountability that hinder economic development and erode public trust