Discussing performance: Citizens give their feedback to govt on its performance

Seminar organised by IBA for speakers of both public and private sectors.

KARACHI: Government officials and private sector representatives discussed the performance of the Sindh government on various projects in a day-long seminar on Tuesday.

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA) organised the 'Governance Forum' seminar at the Marriott Hotel. IBA's Dr Qazi Masood Ahmed opened the first session of the seminar, shedding light on the objectives of the gathering. The institute had compiled a report on the government's initiatives towards poverty alleviation, utilisation of public-private partnerships, fiscal reforms and its use of information technology.



Ahmed added that a more refined report will be prepared after gathering feedback and will be handed over to the government to suggest improvements in their policies. "We have provided a chance to the government to tell the people what they have done and then the people will give their feedback on the benefits of the projects," said Ahmed.

Sindh chief secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana in his speech said that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the government has been burdened with added responsibilities and more challenges.

Hotiana called the public-private partnership a success, under which projects such as the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Dual Carriageway and adoption of government schools by private organisations have been carried out. "The Sindh government is looking to promote public-private partnerships," said Hotiana. "Not only will this help alleviate the government's financial constraints but will also counter the corruption that plagues many government bodies."

Urban planner Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui, was critical of the government in his speech on poverty alleviation. “After the floods in Sindh and Balochistan, refugees were unwilling to leave the camps as, for the first time in their lives, they were being treated by doctors and were being provided clean water."

Siddiqui felt that the government should stop making excuses and neither should it depend on non-governmental organisations as 'the real change' can only come about with the efforts of the government.

Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Human Resource Research and Development Board chairman Riaz Shaikh gave a presentation on the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme that was initiated in 2008 to fight poverty and unemployment. Shaikh described the objectives of the programme, which include training semi-educated youth and providing them employable skills to meet the demands of the local and international markets. "Through the programme, we provide stipends to the trainees on the basis of merit and have trained around 150,000 youngsters," he added.

Sukkur IBA dean Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui said that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing and more and more people are dropping below the poverty line. "As long as we don't decrease the difference in the quality of education being provided in public and private institutes, we will face the poverty issue," he said.

In the second session of the seminar, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation's (SIUT) Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi gave a presentation on the government-community partnership through the SIUT perspective. He discussed how the SIUT has grown since 1972 and how, when it started, it had only eight beds and now the Dewan Farooq Medical Complex has 400 beds, the Hanifa Suleman Dawood Oncology Centre has 300, SIUT Sukkur has 150 and the Mehrunisa Medical Centre in Korangi has 150.

IBA director Dr Ishrat Husain then took centre stage and called for a revision in the manuals and rules of bureaucracy, which are being used since the British Raj.

The adviser to the chief minister on finance, Murad Ali Shah, revealed the reasoning behind the decrease in the annual development budget, saying that it will help counter under-utilisation as the government will try and release all the available funds.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2014.