The will and the skill

As the floods rage, knocking out villages, towns, and cities the government continues to flounder.

As the flood rages, knocking out villages, towns, and cities, the government continues to flounder. The prime example of this rising tide of incompetence is Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani himself.

In one week he flitted from disastrous utterance to equally calamitous planning. He admitted on camera to having low credibility. This should not be surprising to anyone except that a sitting prime minister in the eye of the worst crisis of the country’s history should have known that his words could only make the nation, he claims to lead, lose hope. In the same week, he flew into another fake camp designed to create an impression of ‘things-being-alright.’ He also took useless tours around the flooded towns. One such tour took him to an area where his cousins live. The rumour in town was that the prime minister and his rather large flying squad came to town because he had family matters to discuss. This would have been forgivable if the prime minister had shown any sense of policy direction. Instead he sat next to Nawaz Sharif, looking hopelessly lonely and clueless, and announced a so-called commission to manage disaster management and fund-raising efforts.

This one-hour-long press conference was high drama which came to nothing. Even before the echo of the commission announcement had died down, the idea became history. Since then, nobody has heard of this great scheme which was meant not just to raise funds but also do damage assessment. Undeterred by this embarrassment, in another five days the prime minister announced the formation of National Disaster Management Commission, with similar aims and objectives. Clearly the prime minister along with his federal cabinet has little idea as to what the disaster means for the future of this country while they have no plan at hand. The prime minister looks amazingly comfortable and calm in the face of an unfolding tragedy which is giving every thinking person a nightmare. To each criticism of this “known handling of the crisis the prime minister is quick to refer to the government being a people-mandated setup”. It is almost as if that the votes that are won in the election shall automatically translates into a relief, rescue and rebuild plans for the public. One has to be on the ground in the flood-hit areas to understand the magnitude of the problem. And in Sindh alone six million people are likely to be uprooted.

As it is, cities are choking with the dislocated population, the existing infrastructure, already inadequate, is coming under immense pressure. The district administrations are short of cash. The provincial governments say that the centre has given them nothing. Where are the big bucks, that the prime minister claim has come into his relief fund, being distributed? The day Prime Minister Gilani took a half-luxury-half-work trip to Rahim Yar Khan, 12 people including children and women died in Sukkur for want of adequate relief. The night the prime minister spent posting about his successful jalsa, thousands migrated from Shahdadkot and just as many packed up their belongings to leave dangerous areas in Hyderabad.

It is obvious that Prime Minister Gilani is at ease with his own performance. He and his cabinet members think that it is justified to expect the provincial government to deliver relief to the population in distress. But just as evident is the sad fact that the centre has completely abdicated its core role in providing direction and a well-thought out strategy in this hour of trial and tribulation. The prime minister is marginalised and quite happy in his solitude. To paraphrase a quote by legendry boxer Mohammed Ali: "Leadership is all about one’s will and skill but ultimately more will than skill wins the day." It seems that the prime minister has neither.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2010.